watercress

Alternative forms

water-cress, water cress

Etymology

From Middle English water cresse, water-kresse, watercrasse, water cars, equivalent to water +‎ cress. Cognate with West Frisian waterkers (“watercress”), Dutch waterkers (“watercress”), Swedish vattenkrasse (“watercress”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːtəkɹɛs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔtəɹkɹɛs/

Noun

watercress (countable and uncountable, plural watercresses)

A perennial European herb, Nasturtium officinale, that grows in freshwater streams; used in salads and as a garnish.
- 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 178:
  A spring wells up in the centre of the village, and watercress beds lie beside the stream running alongside the main street.
A similar plant, Nasturtium microphyllum.

Derived terms

Translations

Nasturtium officinale

Arabic: قُرَّة f (qurra), حُرْف (ar) m (ḥurf)
Aragonese: berro m
Armenian: ջրկոտեմ (hy) (ǰrkotem), հորփ կոտեմ (horpʻ kotem)
Middle Armenian: ջրկոտեմ (ǰrkotem)
Bulgarian: кресон m (kreson), пореч m (poreč)
Catalan: creixen (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 西洋菜 (sai¹ joeng⁴ coi³)

Mandarin: 西洋菜 (zh) (xīyángcài), 豆瓣菜 (zh) (dòubàncài)
Czech: potočnice f, řeřicha (cs) f, potočnice lékařská
Danish: tykskulpet Brøndkarse
Dutch: witte waterkers (nl) f
Esperanto: akvokreso
Finnish: vesikrassi (fi)
French: cresson de fontaine (fr) m
Galician: agrón (gl) m, berro (gl) m
German: Brunnenkresse (de) f, Echte Brunnenkresse f, Wasserkresse f
Hebrew: גרגיר הנחלים
Hungarian: vízitorma (hu)
Icelandic: brunnkarsi m, brunnperla f
Irish: biolar m
Italian: nasturzio (it), cresscionde d'acqua m
Japanese: クレソン (kureson), オランダガラシ (orandagarashi)
Kabuverdianu: algriom
Korean: 물냉이 (mullaeng'i), 크레송 (keuresong)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: کووزەڵە (kûzelle)
Latin: nasturtium n
Malay: selada air
Maori: kōwhitiwhiti, wātakirihi
Navajo: táłkááʼ dah yikał
Norman: cresson m
Persian: ترتیزک (fa) (tartizak), شاهی (fa) (šâhi)
Polish: rukiew (pl) f, rukiew wodna (pl) f
Portuguese: agrião (pt) m
Romanian: năsturel (ro) m, creson (ro) n, cardama (ro) f
Russian: жеру́ха (ru) f (žerúxa), водяно́й кре́сс m (vodjanój kréss), брункре́сс m (brunkréss)
Serbo-Croatian: drèzga (sh) f, derezga f (Chakavian), pòtočārka (sh) f, dragušac (sh) m, grbač (sh) m (obsolete), vodena kresa f
Slovak: žerucha (sk) f
Slovene: vodna kreša
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: studnina krjasa f

Upper Sorbian: lěkarska ropucha f
Spanish: berro (es) m
Swedish: källfräne, källkrasse c, vattenkrasse (sv) c
Tagalog: kangkong
Turkish: su teresi (tr)
Vietnamese: cải xoong
Welsh: berwr y dŵr f pl, berwr y ffynnon f pl
West Frisian: wyt wetterleppeltsje
Yiddish: וואַסערכריין m (vaserkhreyn), זשערעכע f (zherekhe)

Nasturtium microphyllum

Catalan: creixen (ca) m
Czech: potočnice f
Dutch: slanke waterkers (nl) f
Esperanto: akvokreso, nasturcio
Finnish: pikkuvesikrassi
Galician: agrón (gl)
German: Bastard-Brunnenkresse f
Icelandic: vætukarsi m
Italian: nasturzio (it) m, crescione d'acqua m
Japanese: クレソン (kureson)
Mandarin: 西洋菜 (zh) (xīyángcài)
Norwegian: brønnkarse
Ossetian: дудгӕ (dudgæ)
Persian: آبتره
Polish: rukiew drobnolistna f
Portuguese: agrião (pt) m
Romanian: năsturel (ro) m, creson (ro) n
Scottish Gaelic: biolar
Spanish: berro (es) m, cresón m, berro de agua (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Ido: ^{(please verify)} kreso (io)
Italian: nasturzio (it) m, ^{(please verify)} crescione d'acqua
Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} cải xoong