Other forms: herbs
A herb is a green leafy plant used in tiny amounts for flavour, like basil or mint. Fresh herbs, chop the herbs, a herb garden.
A herb is the leaf and a spice is the seed, bark or root, which is the working kitchen rule. Delicate ones go in at the end and woody ones at the start, because heat destroys the volatile oils in the first and needs time to draw out the second. Note that Americans drop the h in pronunciation.
1nounherbA leafy plant used in small amounts for flavour.
“Sprinkle some chopped fresh herbs, like parsley or mint, on top.”
Patternfresh / dried herbs · a herb garden · herbs and spices · chop the herbs · herbal
herb is a flavouring plant.
Also accepted in games: herbs
Herb → the H half the world never says
Most Americans do not say the h — an 'erb — and the British do: either way it is the green leaf you cut into the soup.
Old French erbe comes from Latin herba, grass or herb. The h was restored in spelling in the fifteenth century.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʰreh₁-
Latin
herba
Old French
erbe
Middle English
herbe
English, today
herb
From Middle English herbe, erbe, from Old French erbe (French herbe), from Latin herba. Initial h was restored to the spelling in the 15th century on the basis of Latin, but it remained mute until the 19th century and still is for many speakers. a doublet of yerba.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA