A tropical plant with heart-shaped leaves and hairy seed pods that cause itching when they touch skin; also spelled 'cowhage' or 'cowitch'.
From Hindi 'kiwanch' or Sanskrit 'kapikacchu', this plant name entered English through colonial trade with India. The word traveled from South Asian languages into English to describe the distinctive itching caused by the plant's hairs.
Cowhage is a plant whose very name describes its irritating effect—the itching sensation comes from microscopic hairs containing formic acid (the same chemical in ant bites), and colonizers borrowed the Hindi name because English had no word for it!
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