Barrenwort

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A herb, Epimedium alpinum, once thought to prevent conception. uncountable, usually

    "“What on earth did you put in that stuff?” “Bug-bane, barren-wort, penny-cress and blood-root, catchfly, toad-flax, nap-weed and wormwood,” said Catweazle."

  2. 2
    slow-growing creeping plant with semi-evergreen leaves on erect wiry stems; used as ground cover wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bishop's hatepimedium grandiflorum

Example

More examples

"“What on earth did you put in that stuff?” “Bug-bane, barren-wort, penny-cress and blood-root, catchfly, toad-flax, nap-weed and wormwood,” said Catweazle."

Etymology

From barren + wort.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.