tansy

Meaning

1. (countable, uncountable) A herbaceous plant with yellow flowers, of the genus Tanacetum, especially Tanacetum vulgare.
2. (obsolete, uncountable) A dish common in the seventeenth century, made of eggs, sugar, rose water, cream, and the juice of herbs (including tansy), baked with butter in a shallow dish. "Originally flavoured with tansy, but by Pepys's time generally having spinach as its predominant flavouring."

Synonyms

Tanacetum vulgare

golden buttons

scented fern

mugwort

costmary

tanacetum

gunnel

crinkly dick

butter-fish

chrysanthemum vulgare

rock gunnel

Tanacetum

wormwood

yarrow

butterfish

Translations

Tanacetum

tanaisie

Tanacetum vulgare

tanaceto

barbotine

Rainfarn

Tanacetum vulgare

chrysanthemum Vulgare

Tanacetum Vulgare

حشيشة الدود الشائعة

herbe

Tanacetum vulgare

chrysanthemum vulgare

chartreuse

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈtanzi/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English tansy, tansey, syncopic forms of earlier tanesie, tanesei, from Old French tanesie, tanoisie, tanasie, tanaisie, from Medieval Latin tanacetum, atanacetum, attested since the 8th century, of obscure origin, speculated from Ancient Greek ἀθανασία (athanasía, “immortality”) owing to hallucinations from the thujone in the plant, else from taenia (“tapeworm”) due to its primary use against parasites by which reason it is called in Arabic حَشِيشَة الدُود (ḥašīša ad-dūd, literally “worm herb”), otherwise a Berber borrowing like tagetes.