chickweed
noun/ˈtʃɪkwiːd/
Etymology From Middle English chykwed, chykewode, chike wed, chikewed, chekwede, a variant of chykynwede, chekyn-wede, cheken-wede (literally “chicken-weed”), equivalent to chick + weed. Etymonline claims the name was apparently applied to many plants fit for chicken feed, which were called in Old English cicene mete (“chicken food”).
7 senses
› Any of several small-leaved herbs of the…
1
Usually especially common chickweed (Stellaria media), a common, edible weed in North America and Europe.
- I look at the little sprigs of chickweed trembling among the bean shoots and I am strangely moved. Such steadfastness! Such yearning! They want to live too. That is all they ask: to have their little moment in the world.1993, John Banville, Ghosts:
2
Usually Stellaria pro parte
3
Usually Cerastium (mouse-ear chickweed)
› Other plants of similar appearance and…
4
Usually Ageratum conyzoides
5
Usually Holosteum (jagged chickweed)
6
Usually Moenchia (upright chickweed)
7
Usually Paronychia spp. (nailwort, whitlow-wort)
- Derived terms
- chickweed wintergreen, mouse-eared chickweed, red chickweed, sea chickweed