What does "cohosh" mean?

A perennial American herb (Caulophyllum thalictroides), the rough rootstock of which is used in medicine.

Cohosh

Q: What is a synonym for "cohosh"?

Common synonyms include: baneberry, baneberry, black bugbane, black cohosh, black snakeroot, blue cohosh.

//kəˈhɒʃ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A perennial American herb (Caulophyllum thalictroides), the rough rootstock of which is used in medicine. countable, uncountable
2
a plant of the genus Actaea having acrid poisonous berries wordnet
3
A smooth herb, Actaea racemosa, marketed for medicinal use. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

baneberry baneberry black bugbane black cohosh black snakeroot blue cohosh

Etymology

From an Algonquian word meaning "rough", probably Eastern Abenaki / Penobscot *kkwὰhas. Compare Massachusett kushki (“(it is) rough”). Compare English cocash.

Related phrases

actaea racemosa

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