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nettle

UK/ˈnɛtəl/US/ˈnɛtəl/
nounB1+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,301 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: nettles

A nettle is a weed whose hairy leaves sting bare skin. Stung by a nettle, a patch of nettles, nettle soup.

The hairs are hollow glass-like needles that break off and inject the sting, and the folk remedy of a dock leaf works mostly by rubbing and belief. Cooking destroys the sting entirely, which is why nettle soup is safe. To grasp the nettle means to tackle a difficulty head on.

Definitions of nettle

  1. 1nounnettleA weed whose hairy leaves sting bare skin.B1+

    “The children were stung by nettles when they ran through the long grass.”

nettle is a plant.

Where it comes from

Old English netle names the plant, from a Germanic root. German Nessel is the same word.

  1. Proto-Germanic

    *natǭ

  2. Proto-West Germanic

    *natilā

  3. Old English

    netle

  4. Middle English

    netle

  5. English, today

    nettle

From Middle English netle, netel, from Old English netle, netele, netel, from Proto-West Germanic natilā (cognate with Old Saxon netila, Middle Dutch netele (modern Dutch netel), German Nessel, Middle Danish nædlæ (“nettle”)), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic natǭ (of unknown origin, perhaps from the same source as net).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Trees & Flowers

Practise this word

nettle in the wild

  • Lamium (dead-nettles) is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, of which it is the type genus.

    Lamium

  • "Horsenettle" is also written "horse nettle" or "horse-nettle", though USDA publications usually use the one-word form.

    Solanum carolinense

  • Other common names include radical weed, sand brier or briar, bull nettle, tread-softly, Solanum mammosum ("apple of Sodom"), devil's tomato and wild tomato.

    Solanum carolinense

  • The term urticaria is from the Latin urtica meaning "nettle".

    Hives

  • Most nettle agents, such as the best known and studied nettle agent, phosgene oxime, are often grouped with the vesicant (blister agent) chemical agents.

    Nettle agent

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.