What does herb mean?

Definitions for herb
ɜrb; esp. Brit. hɜrbherb

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word herb.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. herb, herbaceous plantnoun

    a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests

  2. herbnoun

    aromatic potherb used in cookery for its savory qualities

Wiktionary

  1. herbnoun

    Any green, leafy plant, or parts thereof, used to flavor or season food.

  2. herbnoun

    Plant whose roots, leaves or seeds, etc. are used in medicine.

  3. herbnoun

    Marijuana.

  4. herbnoun

    A plant whose stem is not woody and does not persist beyond each growing season

  5. Herbnoun

    A short form of the male given name Herbert.

  6. Etymology: Ultimately from herba.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. HERBnoun

    Herbs are those plants whose stalks are soft, and have nothing woody in them; as grass and hemlock. John Locke

    Etymology: herbe, French; herba, Latin.

    In such a night
    Medea gather’d the enchanted herbs
    That did renew old Æson. William Shakespeare, Merch. of Venice.

    With sweet-swelling herbs
    Espoused Eve deck’d first her nuptial bed. John Milton.

    Unhappy, from whom still conceal’d does lie
    Of herbs and roots the harmless luxury. Abraham Cowley.

    If the leaves are of chief use to us, then we call them herbs; as sage and mint. Isaac Watts, Logick.

    Herb eating animals, which don’t ruminate, have strong grinders, and chew much. John Arbuthnot, on Aliments.

ChatGPT

  1. herb

    An herb is a type of plant that is used for its culinary, medicinal, or fragrant properties. They are typically defined as plants with non-woody stems, although some exceptions exist. They can be consumed in various forms - fresh, dried, as extracts or essential oils. Some herbs are used as garnishes or ingredients in foods, others are used in natural remedies, teas or supplements for their potential health benefits. Some herbs also have a symbolic and cultural significance.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Herbnoun

    a plant whose stem does not become woody and permanent, but dies, at least down to the ground, after flowering

  2. Herbnoun

    grass; herbage

  3. Etymology: [OE. herbe, erbe, OF. herbe, erbe, F. herbe, L. herba; perh. akin to Gr. forbh` food, pasture, fe`rbein to feed.]

Wikidata

  1. Herb

    In general use, herbs are any plants used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume. Culinary use typically distinguishes herbs as referring to the leafy green parts of a plant, from a "spice", a product from another part of the plant, including seeds, berries, bark, roots and fruits. In American botanical English the term "herb" is also used as an abbreviation of "herbaceous plant". This usage is rarely found in British English. Herbs have a variety of uses including culinary, medicinal, and in some cases spiritual usage. General usage of the term "herb" differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. In medicinal or spiritual use any of the parts of the plant might be considered "herbs", including leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, resin, root bark, inner bark, berries and sometimes the pericarp or other portions of the plant. The word "herb" is pronounced by many U.S. speakers, or by other U.S. speakers and all other English speakers.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Herb

    hėrb, n. a plant the stem of which dies every year, as distinguished from a tree or shrub which has a permanent stem.—adj. Herbā′ceous, pertaining to, or of the nature of, herbs: (bot.) having a soft stem that dies to the root annually.—n. Herbage (hėrb′āj, or ėrb′āj), green food for cattle: pasture: herbs collectively.—adjs. Herb′aged, covered with grass; Herb′al, pertaining to herbs.—n. a book containing descriptions of plants with medicinal properties, orig. of all plants.—ns. Herb′alist, one who makes collections of herbs or plants: one skilled in plants; Herb′ar (Spens.), an herb; Herbā′rian, a herbalist; Herbā′rium, a classified collection of preserved herbs or plants:—pl. Herbā′riums, Herbā′ria; Herb′ary, a garden of herbs; Herb′-benn′et (see Avens).—adjs. Herbes′cent, growing into herbs, becoming herbaceous; Herbif′erous, bearing herbs.—n. Herb′ist, a herbalist.—n.pl. Herbiv′ora, a name loosely applied to hoofed quadrupeds.—n.sing. Herb′ivore.—adjs. Herbiv′orous, eating or living on herbaceous plants; Herb′less.—ns. Herb′let (Shak.), a small herb; Herb′-of-grace′, or -repent′ance, the common rue, the vervain; Herborisā′tion, the seeking for plants: (min.) the figure of plants.—v.i. Herb′orise, to search for plants: to botanise.—v.t. to form plant-like figures in, as in minerals.—n. Herb′orist, a herbalist.—adjs. Herb′ous, Herb′ose, abounding with herbs.—ns. Herb′-Par′is, Paris quadrifolia, related to wake-robin; Herb′-Pē′ter, the cowslip or primrose; Herb′-Rob′ert, a common kind of geranium; Herb′-trin′ity, the pansy.—adj. Herb′y, of or pertaining to herbs. [Fr. herbe—L. herba, akin to Gr. phorbē, pasture—pherbein, to feed.]

Editors Contribution

  1. herb

    A type of cultivar, plant, shrub or tree.

    We created a beautiful herb garden to use for cooking and sharing with our neighbours.


    Submitted by MaryC on March 28, 2020  

Suggested Resources

  1. herb

    Song lyrics by herb -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by herb on the Lyrics.com website.

  2. HERB

    What does HERB stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the HERB acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. HERB

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Herb is ranked #9854 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Herb surname appeared 3,282 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 would have the surname Herb.

    94.7% or 3,111 total occurrences were White.
    1.8% or 62 total occurrences were Black.
    1.4% or 49 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1% or 35 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    0.5% or 17 total occurrences were Asian.
    0.2% or 8 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'herb' in Nouns Frequency: #2634

How to pronounce herb?

How to say herb in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of herb in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of herb in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of herb in a Sentence

  1. Patricia Bannan:

    Tea at night is great, it’s relaxing, but you want to go for decaffeinated tea, or an herbal tea, which is naturally decaffeinated. Chamomile is also great, because it’s naturally a ‘sleepy-time’ herb.

  2. Mashti Malone:

    Every herb we use in our ice creams has been used for aromatherapy or herbal therapy, and they all have health benefits.

  3. Jenny Higgins:

    Someone might look into alternatives such as herbs, spend time trying to gather information, procure that substance, take the herb, take it again, take it again, and by then, they are later in gestation and maybe even less likely to be able to access effective methods, there's a real-time constraint here.

  4. Good Foodie founder Yumna Jawad:

    You could have so much fun with this, you could play around with corn elote, or try dips and sauces like chipotle lime mayo, Sriracha mayo, garlic and herb butter or even barbecue sauce.

  5. Jorgen Stoltz:

    In the summer there is arrowgrass, which tastes of coriander, all year round we find scurvy grass, which is what the Vikings used to bring around Europe as a medicinal herb. We also call it wasabi wort because of its intensity, just like horseradish.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

herb#1#8997#10000

Translations for herb

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"herb." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/herb>.

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