Woad
/woʊd/noun
A blue dye obtained from the leaves of the woad plant, or the plant itself.
Did you know?Woad comes from a very old Germanic word for a blue dye plant, and Roman writers linked the blue body-paint of some Britons to this pigment, turning a simple plant into a symbol of fierce, otherworldly power.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*wōdō
“woad; a blue dye plant or dye”
Old English
OE
wād
“woad, the dye plant Isatis tinctoria”
Middle English
ME
wode
“woad; blue dye from the plant”
Modern English
English
woad
“a blue dye obtained from the plant Isatis tinctoria”