herbaceous

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁-der.

Proto-Indo-European *gʰer-dʰ?

Latin herba

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ks

Proto-Italic *-āks

Latin -āx

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Indo-European *-éyos

Proto-Italic *-ejos

Proto-Italic *-eos

Latin -eus

Latin -āceus

Latin herbāceusbor.

English herbaceous

Borrowed from Latin herbāceus (“grassy”). By surface analysis, herb +‎ -aceous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hə(ɹ)ˈbeɪ.ʃəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /(h)ɝˈbeɪ.ʃəs/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs

Adjective

herbaceous (comparative more herbaceous, superlative most herbaceous)

1. (botany) Not woody, lacking lignified tissues.
   • 1859, Shirley Hibberd, The Town Garden, page 53:

     […] and it contains a very good selection of shrubs and herbaceous plants, which, having good soil and plentiful drenchings of water from a garden-engine all the summer, thrive to admiration.

   • 1958 [1946], Frederick E. Zeuner, Dating The Past: An Introduction To Geochronology, fourth edition, London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., pages 78-79:

     Iversen holds that these changes indicate the arrival of farmers, the phase of Landnam or land occupation, that the charcoal comes from clearance fires; that herbaceous pollen suggests the opening-up of the land; cereals, fields; the plantains, weeds; and birch and hazel, regeneration of the forests after the exhaustion of the plot.

2. (wine) Not woody in flavor.
3. (dated) Feeding on herbs and soft plants.
   • 1861, Charles John Andersson, Lake Ngami, chapter XL, page 490:

     The hippopotamus is an herbaceous animal.

Antonyms

• woody

Derived terms

• herbaceously
• herbaceousness
• nonherbaceous
• subherbaceous

Translations

botany: not woody

• Breton: geotek (br)
• Bulgarian: тревист (trevist)
• Catalan: herbaci (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 草本 (zh) (cǎoběn)

• Czech: nedřevnatý
• Danish: urteagtig
• Dutch: kruidachtig (nl)
• Finnish: ruohovartinen (fi)
• French: herbacé (fr)
• Galician: herbáceo (gl)
• German: krautig (de)
• Greek: ποώδης (el) (poódis), χορτώδης (chortódis)
• Italian: erbaceo (it)
• Māori: māotaota
• Polish: zielny (pl)
• Portuguese: herbáceo (pt)
• Romanian: erbaceu, ierbos (ro)
• Russian: травяно́й (ru) (travjanój), травяни́стый (ru) (travjanístyj)
• Spanish: herbáceo (es)
• Turkish: otsu (tr), otsul
• Welsh: llysieuol

wine: not woody in flavor

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can

dated: feeding on herbs and soft plants

• Polish: roślinożerny (pl)