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straw

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straw¹

  • /stɹɔː/ UK
  • /stɹɔ/ US
  • /stɹɑ/ cot caught merger

Rhymes with -ɔː

Where it comes from

From Middle English straugh, strauȝ, straw, strawe, strea, streuw, from Old English strēaw, strēow, from Proto-West Germanic *strau, from Proto-Germanic *strawą (“that which is strewn, straw”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”), from *sterh₃- (“to extend, spread”), from *ster- (“barren, infertile”).

Cognates

Cognate with Scots strae (“straw”), Yola stre, strew (“straw”), Saterland Frisian Sträi (“straw”), Dutch stro (“straw”), German Stroh (“straw”), Luxembourgish Stréi (“straw”), Vilamovian śtruf, śtruw, štrūv (“straw”), Yiddish שטרוי (shtroy, “straw”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish strå (“straw”), Icelandic strá (“straw”); also Cornish stras (“flat valley; lowland”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic srath (“bottom, holm; river valley”), Welsh ystrad (“valley”), Latin struo (“place one thing on top of another; to build, compose; to devise, ready; to arrange, place; to head up”), Greek στρώμα (stróma, “mattress; layer, sheet”), Albanian shtrij (“to stretch; to lay; to run fast”), shtroj (“to scatter, spread”), Belarusian старана́ (staraná, “side; country”), Bulgarian and Macedonian страна́ (straná, “side; country”), Czech and Slovak strana (“side; page; party”), Kashubian and Polish strona (“side; page; party; country”), Russian сторона́ (storoná, “side; country”), страна́ (straná, “country”), Serbo-Croatian стра́на, strána (“side; page”), Slovene stran (“side; page”), Armenian ստերջ (sterǰ, “barren, sterile”), Persian گستردن (gostardan / gustardan, “to extend, spread”), Sanskrit स्तृ (stṛ), स्तॄ (stṝ, “to scatter, spread”).

noun straws · strawe

  1. countable A dried stalk of a cereal plant.

    Similar: litter

  2. uncountable Such dried stalks considered collectively; this bulk matter may be a chief salable product, a by-product, fodder, bedding, or green manure, depending on region and on current market conditions.
  3. countable A drinking straw.
  4. countable, uncommon, uncountable A pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.
  5. countable, figuratively, uncountable, in the negative Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing. to not care a straw
  6. countable, uncountable A straw owner. The Bromfield Street offices were housed in a dilapidated but heavily-insured building, owned by a straw for a wealthy downtown real estate developer, surrounded by expensive new commercial developments, and in a city renowned for arson-for-profit.

adjective strawe

  1. not comparable Made of straw. straw hat

    Similar: strawen

  2. not comparable Of a pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.
  3. figuratively, not comparable Imaginary, but presented as real. A straw enemy built up in the media to seem like a real threat, which then collapses like a balloon.

verb straws · strawing · strawed · strawe

  1. idiomatic, transitive To scatter or to spread loosely.
  2. transitive To lay straw around plants to protect them from frost.
  3. obsolete, slang To sell straws on the streets in order to cover the giving to the purchaser of things usually banned, such as pornography. It was the custom for the disaffected of those days to make known their grievances by distributing papers on doors of public buildings, and even strawing them in the high way, for the benefit of the chance passenger.

Straw²

Where it comes from

From Middle English straw, as a nickname for a thin person or one with straw-coloured hair, or an occupational name for a dealer in straw.

proper noun

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: chaff, shuck, husk, stubble, stalk, colored, strew, chromatic, hay, bathwater, basketry, shaw, stove, stick, plaiting, rod

Translations

Every language

noun a dried stalk of a cereal plant

Españolpaja
한국어짚 jip
日本語藁 wara, ワラ wara
中文稈子 /秆子 gǎnzi, 秸秆 jiēgǎn, 秸稈 /秸秆 jiēgǎn
Portuguêspalha
Françaispaille, fétu
DeutschHalm, Strohhalm
Italianofestuca, pagliuzza, paglia
Ελληνικάάχυρο áchyro
Românăpai
Русскийсоло́мина solómina, соло́минка solóminka
Tiếng Việtrơm
עבריתקַשׁ qash

noun dried stalks considered collectively

Españolpaja
한국어짚 jip
日本語藁 wara, ワラ wara
中文稻草 dàocǎo
हिन्दीपुआल puāl, तिनका tinkā
Portuguêspalha
Françaispaille
DeutschStroh
Italianopaglia
Românăpaie
Русскийсоло́ма solóma
Tiếng Việtrơm
العربيةقَشّ qašš
עבריתקַשׁ qash, תֶּבֶן téven

noun colour

Españolpajizo, pajiza
日本語藁色 warairo, わら色 warairo
Françaisjaune paille
Deutschstrohfarben, strohgelb
Italianopaglia

adj made of straw

Españolpajoso, pajizo
DeutschStroh-
Русскийсоло́менный solómennyj

adj of a pale, yellowish beige colour

Españolpajizo
Françaispaille
Deutschstrohfarben, strohblond
Русскийсоло́менный solómennyj

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MLA

"straw." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/straw. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

straw. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/straw

Chicago

"straw." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/straw.

BibTeX
@misc{straw_2026,
  title = {straw},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/straw},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}