What does wort mean?
Wort is chiefly a technical brewing term for the sweet, malty liquid obtained by infusing crushed malted grain with water. It contains the fermentable sugars that yeast will later convert into alcohol, so wort represents an essential stage between malting and finished beer. The term can also refer more broadly to an unfermented malt extract and appears in specialist vocabulary involving wort boiling, hop additions, and the collection of first and later worts from a mash. In older English, wort was also a general word for a plant or medicinal herb, a sense preserved in names such as St John's wort. Modern readers usually encounter the brewing meaning, while the older plant sense gives the word an unusual overlap with herbal medicine. Because it names a specific, consequential stage in the production of fermented drinks, wort is a useful term for anyone wishing to discuss brewing with greater precision.
nounThe sweet, malty liquid obtained by soaking crushed malted grain, used in brewing and containing fermentable sugars; by extension, a similar unfermented malt extract. In older or literary use, a plant, especially one regarded as medicinal.
- The sweet, fermentable liquid extracted from crushed malted grain during brewing.
- An old or literary term for a plant, especially a medicinal herb.
"The brewer added hops to the hot wort and transferred it to the fermentation vessel."
"The brewer added hops to the hot wort."
"The apothecary dried the wort before adding it to the remedy."
The standard plural of the noun, used when referring to separate portions or batches of wort.
"The brewers compared two worts made with different malts."
Wort can mean beer’s sweet, unfermented starting liquid—or, in older language, a medicinal herb.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does wort come from?
The plant sense of wort comes through Middle English from Old English wyrt, meaning a root, plant, or herb, and is associated with the Germanic root represented by Proto-Germanic *wurt-. The sense for the sweet liquid drawn from malt also belongs to the word's Middle English history, although the precise semantic route of its development is less straightforward. Continental Germanic cognates include German Wurz and Wurzel and Dutch wortel, all associated with the ancient vocabulary for roots, plants, and herbs.
Related word forms
How wort is actually used
The brewing sense is standard technical vocabulary among brewers and is also understood by enthusiasts of beer and distilling. The sense meaning a medicinal plant is now archaic or literary, though it survives in plant names such as St John's wort.
Easily confused with wort
Wort has the letters w-o-r-t and means a malt extract or, historically, a plant; word has the letters w-o-r-d and means a unit of language.
Wort is pronounced with the vowel of the word word, whereas wrest is pronounced with the vowel of the word wet.