# wort

> English word · Noun · IPA /wɜːt/ · frequency rank #33,912

## Definitions
1. Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine.
2. Chiefly in the plural: a plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable; a brassica; especially, a cabbage (Brassica oleracea).
3. A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts) or Marchantiophyta (liverworts); an anthocerotophyte or marchantiophyte.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *wréh₂ds
From Middle English wort, wurt, wyrte (“any herb or plant; herb or plant used as food or medicine; (specifically) cabbage or vegetable of the genus Brassica; (chiefly plural) dish of cooked vegetables”) [and other forms], from Old English wyrt (“a plant; vegetable; herb, spice”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *wurti (“a root; a spice”), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“a root”), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“a root”). Doublet of root and related to orchard.
Cognates
* Old Dutch wort (“herb; plant”) (Middle Dutch wort (“herb; root”))
* Old High German wurz (“herb; root; spice”) (Middle High German wurz, modern German Wurz)
* Old Norse jurt, urt (“herb”) (Icelandic jurt, Norwegian urt, Old Danish urt (modern Danish urt), Old Swedish yrt (“plant”) (modern Swedish ört))
* Old Saxon wurt (“herb; plant; root”) (Middle Low German wort, wurt)

## Easily confused with
- **wt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-wt)
- **wow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-wow)
- **wot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-wot)
- **wut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-wut)
- **wry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-wry)
- **writ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-writ)
- **wove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-wove)
- **worth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-worth)
- **worthy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wort-vs-worthy)
- **wo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wo-vs-wort)
- **war** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/war-vs-wort)
- **won** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/won-vs-wort)
- **wet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wet-vs-wort)
- **wit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wit-vs-wort)
- **woo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woo-vs-wort)
- **wat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wat-vs-wort)
- **woe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woe-vs-wort)
- **wer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wer-vs-wort)
- **wop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wop-vs-wort)
- **wor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wor-vs-wort)

## Common misspellings (6)
`owrt`, `worrt`, `wortt`, `wotr`, `wrot`, `wwort`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wort