spurge · noun1
- Old Frenchespurge
- Middle Englishspurge
- English todayspurge
Inherited from Middle English spurge, from Old French espurge, from espurgier (“to purge”), from Latin expurgo (“to purge”); the bitter milky sap of these plants was formerly used as a purgative.
spurge · verb2
Uncertain, but likely closely related to etymology 1, thus a doublet of purge.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.