Meanings
plural cockleburs
- Any of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit.
These burrs stuck to the tails of the cows as they walked by, and were brought to the cowpen, the cowtails greatly enlarged by the huge amount of cockleburs stuck on them.
2002, Lura Spears Zerick, The Golden Olden Days, page 691 more example
Fig. 1.—Spiculated pollens of ragweeds (ambrosias) low in protein. […] In the cocklebur (Xanthium americanum) and the rough wild elder (Iva ciliata), the spicules are shorter, being 0.7 and 0.5 microns, and the reaction is proportionately less active than with the ragweeds (ambrosias). […] While the grass pollens have so light a coat that they are frequently crushed in the ordinary process of mounting, the ragweed (ambrosias) pollen grains resist pressure between two glass slides carried to the point of crushing the glass.
1916 September 16, W[illiam] Scheppegrell, “Direct and Indirect Hay-Fever: Preliminary Report of the Research Department of the American Hay-Fever-Prevention Association on the Etiology of Hay-Fever”, in George H[enry] Simmons, editor, The Journal of the American Medical Association, volume LXVII, number 12, Chicago, Ill.: American Medical Association, pages 862–863Synonyms: clotbur
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit.
More synonyms by meaning
nounany coarse weed of the genus Xanthium having spiny burrs
nounburdock having heart-shaped leaves found in open woodland, hedgerows and rough grassland of Europe (except extreme N) and Asia Minor; sometimes cultivated for medicinal and culinary use
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Ancient Greek ξάνθιον
- ξάνθιον (xánthion)any of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Bulgarian рогачица
- рогачица (rogačica)any of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Catalan espina-xoca
- espina-xocaany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Chinese Mandarin 蒼耳 /苍耳, 葹
- 蒼耳 /苍耳 (cāng'ěr)any of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
- 葹 (shī)any of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Czech řepeň
- řepeňany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Finnish sappiruoho
- sappiruohoany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
French xanthium, lampourde
- xanthiumany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
- lampourdeany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
German Spitzklette
- Spitzkletteany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Italian nappola
- nappolaany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Latin xanthium
- xanthiumany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Polish rzepień
- rzepieńany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Portuguese arzola
- arzolaany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Russian дурни́шник
- дурни́шник (durníšnik)any of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Slovak voškovník
- voškovníkany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Swedish gullfrö
- gullfröany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Turkish pıtrak
- pıtrakany of the coarse composite weeds of the genus Xanthium, with a prickly fruit
Cite this entry
cocklebur. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cocklebur
“cocklebur.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cocklebur. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cocklebur,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cocklebur.
Source: cocklebur on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.