Hogweed

Common synonyms include: cow parsnip, cow parsnip, cadweed, clogweed, heracleum sphondylium, hog bed.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any coarse weedy herb.
2
tall coarse plant having thick stems and cluster of white to purple flowers wordnet
3
An umbelliferous plant, of genus Heracleum, most species of which are phototoxic.
"“I will bewitch them with flea-bane, blister them with hog-weed,” he said, vainly looking for a suitable spell."
4
Certain plants from the genera Ambrosia, Erigeron, or Heracleum.

"“I will bewitch them with flea-bane, blister them with hog-weed,” he said, vainly looking for a suitable spell."

From hog + weed, so named because of its use as feed for pigs.

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