Meaning & use
borage
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Meanings
noununcountable
A plant with bright blue, star-shaped flowers and rough hairy leaves, grown in gardens and used in herbal remedies, drinks and salads.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: borage grows quickly; a plant of borage.
Patterns
- a borage plant
Borage grows quickly in the vegetable garden and attracts bees.
She floated borage flowers in the summer drinks.
The leaves of borage taste a little like cucumber.
noununcountable
The oil pressed from the seeds of this plant, sold as a supplement.
Grammar: Usually 'borage oil', uncountable.
Some people take borage oil for dry skin.
The shop sells capsules made from borage.
She read that borage is rich in a certain fatty acid.
Common combinations
- borage flowers
- Borage flowers look pretty in salads.
- borage oil
- Borage oil is sold in capsules.
- borage leaves
- Borage leaves are covered in tiny hairs.
- grow borage
- They grow borage to attract bees.
- borage seeds
- The borage seeds are used to make oil.
Synonyms and how they differ
- starflower
- Is another common name for the same plant, often in herbal contexts.
- bee bread
- Is a less common nickname referring to its appeal to bees.
- comfrey
- Is a related-looking herb but with a different use and flower shape.
- cucumber herb
- Is an occasional nickname referring to the leaf flavor.
Word family
- borage oil noun
- Oil pressed from the seeds of the plant.
Commonly confused: borage or bourbon?
borage vs bourbon
A type of American whiskey; borage is a plant.
Practice
Which of these is borage?
Choose one answer.
Borage is a herb with blue star-shaped flowers and oil-rich seeds; the other options belong to different categories.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “borage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.