herb

herb — noun

1. a plant grown for its leaves, seeds, or flowers that people add to food for extr

1.nounA2
Definition

a plant grown for its leaves, seeds, or flowers that people add to food for extra taste or use as a natural remedy for illness

Example

Salma added fresh herbs to the soup just before serving it.

collocation: fresh herbs

In many traditional remedies, herbs are dried and then boiled to make tea.

passive: are dried and then boiled

Common collocations
  • fresh herbs
  • dried herbs
  • culinary herbs
  • medicinal herbs
  • herb garden
  • herbal tea
  • bunch of herbs
  • pot of herbs
Synonyms
  • potherb

    rare and technical; refers to any leafy plant cooked and eaten as a vegetable or flavouring

  • aromatic plant

    emphasises strong scent rather than specific culinary or medicinal use

Antonyms
  • spice

    comes from seeds, bark, or roots rather than leaves; nearly always sold dried

Usage Note

In everyday conversation, herb usually refers to plants used for cooking or medicine. When talking about food, herbs are typically fresh or dried leaves — contrast with spice, which comes from seeds, bark, or roots and is nearly always dried.

Common Mistakes

I added some spices to the pasta sauce like basil and parsley.
I added some herbs to the pasta sauce like basil and parsley.
Basil and parsley are herbs, not spices. Spices come from seeds (cumin), bark (cinnamon), or roots (ginger).
The medicine is made from medical herbs.
The medicine is made from medicinal herbs.
Medicines relate to treatment of illness, so the adjective is medicinal, not medical.

2. a plant that has a soft green stem rather than a hard woody one, and that usuall

2.nounB2
Definition

a plant that has a soft green stem rather than a hard woody one, and that usually dies back to the ground after its flowering season

Example

Arjun learned in biology class that herbs have soft stems that never turn woody.

pattern: that-clause after learned

Unlike trees and shrubs, herbs die back to the ground every winter and regrow in spring.

contrast with: trees and shrubs

Common collocations
  • herbaceous plant
  • perennial herb
  • annual herb
  • flowering herb
  • wild herb
  • herb layer (in ecology)
Synonyms
  • herbaceous plant

    the formal botanical term for the same category; commonly used in garden writing

Antonyms
  • tree

    a tall woody plant with a single main trunk that persists year after year

  • shrub

    a woody plant with multiple stems that stays alive above ground through winter

Usage Note

Common in botany and horticulture textbooks. Trees and shrubs are the opposite category — they have woody stems that persist above ground year after year. Many culinary herbs (sense 1) are also botanical herbs, but not all: rosemary and thyme, for example, have woody stems and are technically shrubs, even though their leaves are used as culinary herbs.

Common Mistakes

A rose bush is a herb because it has flowers.
A rose bush is not a herb
it is a shrub because its stems are woody.' — The botanical classification depends on stem type, not on whether the plant flowers.
Basil is a herb in both the cooking and garden sense.
True, but note that rosemary is only a herb in the cooking sense
botanically it is a shrub with woody stems.

Word family

  • herbal
    adjectiveB1
  • herbalist
    nounC1
  • herbaceous
    adjectiveC1
  • herbivore
    nounC2
  • herbivorous
    adjectiveC2
  • herbicide
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Herb, spice, seasoning, and aromatic all relate to adding flavour to food, but they differ in which part of the plant they come from and how they are used. An herb is the fresh or dried leaf of a plant used for its flavour — basil, mint, parsley, and oregano are classic examples. A spice comes from other plant parts: seeds (cumin, coriander), bark (cinnamon), or roots (ginger, turmeric), and is almost always sold dried. Seasoning is a broader umbrella term that includes both herbs and spices, along with salt, sugar, and blended mixtures such as garlic salt or five-spice powder. Aromatic is the least specific of the four — it refers to any plant part with a strong, pleasant smell, whether used in cooking, medicine, or perfume. For example, a cook might say 'add fresh herbs at the end so they keep their colour' but 'add spices early in the recipe so they release their oils into the pan.'

herb ↗spice ↗seasoningaromatic

Common collocations

Nouns

  • herb garden
  • herb shop
  • herb mixture
  • herb species

Phrases

  • bunch of herbs
  • dried herbs
  • fresh herbs
  • medicinal herbs

Prepositions

  • herbs for [cooking/medicine]
  • herbs in [the garden/the wild]
  • teas made from herbs

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

The word herb traces back to the Latin herba, meaning 'grass' or 'green plant.' It passed into Old French as erbe, and then into Middle English as herbe. The modern English spelling with the 'h' sound was restored in the 1800s under the influence of Latin. The botanical meaning (a soft-stemmed plant) is the older one; the culinary and medicinal sense developed naturally as people used those plants for cooking and healing.