Rhubarb is a plant with thick, sour-tasting red or pink stalks that are used in cooking, especially in pies and desserts. Its leaves are poisonous and should not be eaten.
From Middle English *rubarbe*, from Old French *rhubarbe*, from Medieval Latin *rheubarbarum*, from Greek *rha barbaron* “foreign root.” It was called “barbarian rhubarb” because it came from lands outside Greece.
In old theater, actors used to quietly mumble “rhubarb, rhubarb” to fake the sound of crowd chatter. So the plant’s name doubled as a sound effect, long before movies had background noise tracks.
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