Standard Lemma guide

cress

name · noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /kɹɛs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛs
  • CMU ARPABET: K R EH1 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A surname.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A plant of various species, chiefly cruciferous. The leaves have a moderately pungent taste, and are used as a salad and antiscorbutic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Archaic form of kris.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

pungent leaves of any of numerous cruciferous herbs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: salad green, salad greens

Narrower terms: watercress, garden cress, winter cress

5

noun

Meaning 5

any of various plants of the family Cruciferae with edible leaves that have a pungent taste

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cress plant

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: crucifer, cruciferous plant

Narrower terms: watercress, Arabidopsis thaliana, mouse-ear cress, Arabidopsis lyrata, rock cress, rockcress, tower mustard, tower cress, Turritis glabra, Arabis glabra, winter cress, St. Barbara's herb, scurvy grass, bittercress, bitter cress, common scurvy grass, Cochlearia officinalis, common garden cress, garden pepper cress, pepper grass, pepperwort, Lepidium sativum

History

Etymology

From Middle English cresse, crasse, from Old English cressa, cærse (“cress”), from Proto-West Germanic *krassjō, from Proto-Germanic *krasjô (“cress”). Cognate with West Frisian kers (“cress”), Dutch kers (“cress”), German Kresse (“cress”), Danish karse (“cress”), Swedish krasse (“cress”), Icelandic krassi (“cress”).

Across languages

Translations

50 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: حُرْف (ḥurf) — a plant
  • Arabic: رَشَاد (rašād) — a plant
  • Armenian: կոտեմ (kotem) — a plant
  • Middle Armenian: կոտեմ (kotem) — a plant
  • Azerbaijani: vəzəri — a plant
  • Bulgarian: кресо́н (kresón) — a plant
  • Catalan: creixen — a plant
  • Cornish: beler — a plant
  • Cornish: beleren — a plant
  • Czech: řeřicha — a plant
  • Danish: karse — a plant
  • Esperanto: kreso — a plant
  • Estonian: kress — a plant
  • Finnish: krassi — a plant
  • French: cresson — a plant
  • Galician: berro — a plant
  • Galician: brizo — a plant
  • Georgian: წიწმატი (c̣ic̣maṭi) — a plant
  • German: Kresse — a plant
  • Greek: κάρδαμο (kárdamo) — a plant
  • Hungarian: zsázsa — a plant
  • Hunsrik: Kress — a plant
  • Icelandic: karsi — a plant
  • Icelandic: krassi — a plant
  • Italian: crescione — a plant
  • Korean: 물냉이 (mullaeng'i) — a plant
  • Latin: nasturtium — a plant
  • Luxembourgish: Cresson — a plant
  • Māori: kirihi — a plant
  • Old English: cærse — a plant
  • Persian: شاهی (šāhi) — a plant
  • Persian: ترهتیزک (taretizak) — a plant
  • Persian: شبخیزک (šabxizak) — a plant
  • Persian: سپندان (sepandān) — a plant
  • Polish: rzeżucha — a plant
  • Portuguese: agrião — a plant
  • Romanian: creson — a plant
  • Romanian: hreniță — a plant
  • Russian: кресс (kress) — a plant
  • Russian: кресс-сала́т (kress-salát) — a plant
  • Spanish: mastuerzo — a plant
  • Spanish: berro — a plant
  • Spanish: nasturcio — a plant
  • Swedish: krasse — a plant
  • Thai: เทียนแดง (tian-daeng) — a plant
  • Turkish: tere — a plant
  • Ottoman Turkish: تره (tere) — a plant
  • Ottoman Turkish: رشاد (reşâd) — a plant
  • Vietnamese: cải xoong — a plant
  • Welsh: berwr — a plant