Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

witchweed

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: witch-weed
IPA

21

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any of several flowering plants of the genus Striga, from Africa and Asia, some of which are parasitic to crops.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"1968, (U.S.) National Research Council: Committee on Plant and Animal Pests: Subcommittee on Weeds, Principles of Plant and Animal Pest Control, Volume 2: Weed Control, National Academy of Sciences Publication 1597, page 43, The witchweed-suppression program is a classic example of a systems approach to weed management and represents one of the finest organized efforts in the United States to eradicate a weed."
"A number of witchweed species parasitize important economic plants such as corn, sugarcane, rice, tobacco, and some small grains."
"The Asian and African witchweed (Striga asiatica) grows parasitically on the roots of members of the Poaceae, especially maize and sorghum causing significant crop losses, but also on rice, millet, sugar cane and grasses."

Etymology

Calque of translingual Striga (literally “witch”). By surface analysis, witch + weed.

Usage

Inflected Forms

witchweeds (plural)

Phrases

Asiatic witchweed cowpea witchweed giant witchweed purple witchweed

Questions

What does witchweed mean?: Any of several flowering plants of the genus Striga, from Africa and Asia, some of which are parasitic to crops.
Where does witchweed come from?: Calque of translingual Striga (literally “witch”). By surface analysis, witch + weed.

How to pronounce witchweed

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