whin

Meaning

1. Gorse; furze (Ulex spp.).
2. The plant woad-waxen (Genista tinctoria).

Synonyms

gorse

whinstone

furze

dyer’s-broom

woadwaxen

woodwaxen

greenweed

dyeweed

Irish gorse

dyer’s greenweed

basalt

Ulex europaeus

Genista tinctoria

trap rock

skylark

trap

🪤

trappide

Pronounced as (IPA)

/wɪn/

Etymology

From Middle English whynne, from Old Norse hvein (“gorse, furze”) (compare Norwegian kvein (“bent grass”), Swedish ven (“bent grass”), dialectal hven (“swamp”)), apparently from hvein (“swampy land”), from Proto-Germanic *hwainō, *hwin- (“swamp; moor”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱʷeyn- (“to soil; mud; filth”). Compare Latin caenum (“filth”), Latin inquīnō (“to sully; soil”).