Pissabed

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A common wild plant with bright yellow flowers and deeply lobed leaves, named for its diuretic properties
2. A herbaceous plant bearing cheerful yellow blooms, traditionally believed to have strong diuretic effects on the body
3. Any of several yellow-flowered plants, particularly the dandelion, reputed to stimulate urination

Etymology: The dandelion has gone by a surprising number of rude names, and "pissabed" is one of the bluntest. It is a compound of "piss" and "bed" (or, in some accounts, "piss" and "abed," meaning "in bed"), and the name refers to the plant's supposed effect on the bladder. People believed that eating dandelion leaves made you urinate heavily, and the bedtime warning in the name is clear enough. The same idea appears across European languages. French has "pissenlit," which carries the same meaning and is probably the best-known parallel. English dialect speakers reached for the same joke, and the plant picked up several other earthy nicknames along the way. The word is informal and regional rather than standard, so it is mostly found in dictionaries of folk and dialect names.

Synonyms: dandelion