Why is weed called that way?

Cannabis goes by many names, but ‘wiet’ is the most common in the Netherlands. But why do we actually call it that? 

To answer this question, let’s cross the Atlantic for a moment. The term ‘weed’ first appears at the beginning of the twentieth century in the United States (US). Some sources that mention “weed” go back as far as 1400 (but something else was meant by it). 

The evolution of cannabis names: from locoweed to wiet, find out how the term made its way to the Netherlands.

Confused with cannabis 

The term could be a shortened version of the word “locoweed,” a plant species that grows in southwestern and northern Mexico. Locoweed and cannabis were sometimes confused with each other in that region, so when the plant came from Mexico to the U.S., the name was likely adopted. 

Then back across the Atlantic again. Because ‘weed’ naturally blew in from the U.S. to Holland in the 1960s. Logically, ‘weed’ morphed into Dutch wiet. At least, that’s what we suspect. 

Want to know more about the background of weed? Read our history of cannabis!