Sneezeworts

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of herb previously used in folk medicine, believed to cause sneezing as a possible remedy for ailments
2. An older name for certain plants thought to have medicinal properties for respiratory issues
3. This term refers to various flowering plants historically associated with inducing sneezing as a treatment method

Etymology: Sneezewort is a plant name built from two plain English parts: "sneeze" and "wort." The second element is Old English "wyrt," meaning a plant or herb, which survives in names like St John's wort and liverwort. The first is the verb "sneeze," so the compound describes a plant whose effect was to make a person sneeze. Sneezewort is a close relative of the German "Nieswurz" and the Dutch "nieskruid," and both of those words also name hellebore, which shows that plants with this reputation were grouped under the same idea across northern Europe. The plural "sneezeworts" is simply the ordinary plural of "sneezewort," used when referring to more than one such plant. The word is a transparent compound, so its meaning can be read straight from its parts.