What does cowage mean?
Cowage refers to the bristly, hair-covered pods of Mucuna pruriens, a tropical climbing legume also known as the velvet bean or, colloquially, cow-itch. The fine barbed hairs that cloak these pods contain mucunain, a proteolytic enzyme that causes intense itching on contact with skin — a property so pronounced that the plant earned its nickname. Historically, this irritation was turned to medical advantage: powdered cowage was prescribed as an anthelmintic, on the theory that the itching sensation would provoke the intestines to dislodge and expel parasitic worms. The word is now rare, surviving mainly in botanical literature, histories of pharmacy, and accounts of traditional medicine. Anyone encountering it today will most likely find it in reference to the plant itself or its notorious itch-inducing hairs rather than in any active therapeutic use.
nounThe prickly, hair-covered pods of a tropical climbing legume (Mucuna pruriens), whose irritating hairs were traditionally used as an anthelmintic to expel intestinal worms. Also called cowhage or cow-itch.
- The itchy, bristled pods of the tropical climbing plant Mucuna pruriens (the velvet bean), formerly used in medicine to expel intestinal worms.
- The plant itself, Mucuna pruriens, by extension of the pod name.
"In eighteenth-century medicine, cowage was administered as a vermifuge, its itching hairs provoking the body to expel worms."
"Pharmacists of the era stocked powdered cowage alongside other vermifuges."
"Handling raw cowage without gloves left the botanist's hands covered in a burning rash."
Rare; cowage is almost always used as an uncountable mass noun referring to the substance or plant.
"Several varieties of cowages grow across the tropical regions of Asia and Africa."
The hairs on cowage pods are so maddeningly itchy that doctors once used them to make patients' bodies expel intestinal worms.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cowage
Cowage entered English in the late seventeenth century, borrowed through trade contacts with India. It derives from Hindi kavach (or a closely related form), the name of the plant in northern Indian languages. The variant spelling 'cowhage' arose as a folk-etymological reshaping of the borrowed word, and both forms circulated alongside the descriptive folk name 'cow-itch'.
How cowage is actually used
A rare, chiefly historical or botanical word. In modern usage it appears mainly in discussions of herbal medicine, pharmacology history, and botany, where the synonym 'cowhage' and the common name 'velvet bean' are more frequent.
Easily confused with cowage
Cabbage is a common edible leafy vegetable, while cowage is the irritant-haired pod of a tropical bean used historically as a worm remedy.