any of several salt-marsh plants, especially of the genus Salicornia, whose ash was once burned to produce soda for glassmaking.
From 'glass' plus 'wort' (plant). So named because the plant's ash was used to make soda ash, a key ingredient in glassmaking for centuries.
Medieval glass-makers depended on glasswort ashes—traders would harvest these plants by the ton along coasts, and the soda ash industry was actually a huge medieval business!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.