Meanings
plural woad-waxens · alternative woad waxen
- The leguminous plant Genista tinctoria, native to Europe.
[…]but after a time he left the sages, and leaped above the mayweeds, the felt-wyrts, the savouries, and the woad-waxens.
1941, Eva Roe Gaggin, Down Ryton Water, published 1998, page 242 more examples
The woad waxen (Genista tinctoria), common enough near Salem, is seldom found inland, and the same holds good for the barberry and privet, which grow so abundantly near the coast and which have probably been introduced for two hundred years.
1898, Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, Volume 45, Part 1897, page 273Woad-waxen, which in modern English is wax-weed, was one of the plants of many virtues brought by the earliest Pilgrims,[…].
1981, S. N. F. Sanford, Country Herbs, page 20Synonyms: greenweed, greenwood, whin, wood-wash, woodwax, woodwaxen
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe leguminous plant Genista tinctoria, native to Europe.
Origin
- Old Englishwuduweaxe
- Englishwoad-waxen
From Old English wuduweaxe.
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian жълтуга
- жълтуга (žăltuga)Genista tinctoria
Catalan ginesta de tintorers
- ginesta de tintorersGenista tinctoria
Dutch verfbrem
- verfbremGenista tinctoria
Finnish pensasväriherne
- pensasväriherneGenista tinctoria
Romanian drobiță
- drobițăGenista tinctoria
Cite this entry
woad-waxen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woad-waxen
“woad-waxen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woad-waxen. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “woad-waxen,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woad-waxen.
Source: woad-waxen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.