See forb in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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"3": "φορβή",
"t": "food"
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"expansion": "Ancient Greek φορβή (phorbḗ, “food”)",
"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Borrowed from Ancient Greek φορβή (phorbḗ, “food”), from φέρβω (phérbō, “to feed”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "forbs",
"tags": [
"plural"
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"name": "Ecology",
"orig": "en:Ecology",
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"derived": [
{
"word": "forbivorous"
}
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"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
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125,
130
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],
"ref": "2002, Dale F. Lott, American Bison: A Natural History, page 122:",
"text": "So younger is better and the part nearest the roots is better, but what makes life possible for the pronghorn is a supply of forbs—small broadleaf plants growing among the grasses.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"text": "2004, A. Kirilov, P. Todorova Development of forage areas and forage resources in Bulgaria during the period of transition, A. Lüscher, et al. (editors), Land Use Systems in Grassland Dominated Regions: Proceedings of the 20th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, Grassland Science in Europe, Volume 9, page 859,\nBuchgraber (1995) recommends 50-70% of grasses, 10-30% of legumes and also 10-30% of forbs on meadows, while Kessler (1994) recommends the same proportion of grasses, 10-20% of legumes and 20-40% of forbs on natural meadows."
},
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"ref": "2009, Mesaba Energy Project Environmental Impact Statement, 3.8-3:",
"text": "Common understory forbs included, but were not limited to, large-leaved aster, bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), bluebead lily, species of clubmoss, Canada mayflower, and sweet coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus).",
"type": "quotation"
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"glosses": [
"Any nonwoody flowering plant that is not a graminoid (a grass, sedge, or rush)."
],
"id": "en-forb-en-noun-gnz48cX2",
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"graminoid"
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"grass"
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[
"sedge",
"sedge"
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"rush",
"rush"
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"raw_glosses": [
"(chiefly ecology) Any nonwoody flowering plant that is not a graminoid (a grass, sedge, or rush)."
],
"topics": [
"biology",
"ecology",
"natural-sciences"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"lang_code": "ca",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "fòrbia"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"tags": [
"feminine"
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"word": "phorbe"
},
{
"code": "ka",
"lang": "Georgian",
"lang_code": "ka",
"roman": "nairbalaxeuli",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"word": "ნაირბალახეული"
},
{
"alt": "廣葉草本",
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"lang_code": "ko",
"roman": "gwang'yeopchobon",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"word": "광엽초본"
},
{
"code": "mg",
"lang": "Malagasy",
"lang_code": "mg",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"word": "fôrba"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"tags": [
"feminine"
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"word": "forbia"
}
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"word": "forb"
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"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Borrowed from Ancient Greek φορβή (phorbḗ, “food”), from φέρβω (phérbō, “to feed”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "forbs",
"tags": [
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]
},
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"text": "So younger is better and the part nearest the roots is better, but what makes life possible for the pronghorn is a supply of forbs—small broadleaf plants growing among the grasses.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"text": "2004, A. Kirilov, P. Todorova Development of forage areas and forage resources in Bulgaria during the period of transition, A. Lüscher, et al. (editors), Land Use Systems in Grassland Dominated Regions: Proceedings of the 20th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, Grassland Science in Europe, Volume 9, page 859,\nBuchgraber (1995) recommends 50-70% of grasses, 10-30% of legumes and also 10-30% of forbs on meadows, while Kessler (1994) recommends the same proportion of grasses, 10-20% of legumes and 20-40% of forbs on natural meadows."
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
18,
23
]
],
"ref": "2009, Mesaba Energy Project Environmental Impact Statement, 3.8-3:",
"text": "Common understory forbs included, but were not limited to, large-leaved aster, bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), bluebead lily, species of clubmoss, Canada mayflower, and sweet coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus).",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any nonwoody flowering plant that is not a graminoid (a grass, sedge, or rush)."
],
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"ecology",
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"nonwoody",
"nonwoody"
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"graminoid"
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"grass"
],
[
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"rush"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(chiefly ecology) Any nonwoody flowering plant that is not a graminoid (a grass, sedge, or rush)."
],
"topics": [
"biology",
"ecology",
"natural-sciences"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"lang_code": "ca",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "fòrbia"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "phorbe"
},
{
"code": "ka",
"lang": "Georgian",
"lang_code": "ka",
"roman": "nairbalaxeuli",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"word": "ნაირბალახეული"
},
{
"alt": "廣葉草本",
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"lang_code": "ko",
"roman": "gwang'yeopchobon",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"word": "광엽초본"
},
{
"code": "mg",
"lang": "Malagasy",
"lang_code": "mg",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"word": "fôrba"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "non-graminoid flowering plant",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "forbia"
}
],
"word": "forb"
}
Download raw JSONL data for forb meaning in English (3.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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