Herb library · Spice · Thymus vulgaris, Thymus zygis
Thyme
A kitchen herb that is also one of Europe's traditional cough medicines. Europe's medicines agency accepts thyme for chesty coughs with a cold on the strength of long use, not trials; syrups that pair thyme with ivy or primrose have done better than placebo in trials.
Traditional use
Thyme leaves and flowers have long been used in European medicine for the chest; Culpeper's herbal (here in its 1814 printing) calls it a noble strengthener of the lungs and a remedy for the chin-cough of children. In Europe today thyme is sold as an herbal tea, a syrup, drops and extracts for productive coughs with colds, often combined with ivy leaf or primrose root, and thyme oil is used in chest rubs and baths.
Traditional energetics
Galenic (hot or cold, dry or moist)
Hot and dry in the third degree. Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1814), p. 246 (opens in a new tab)
What studies show
- Limited
Coughs with colds and acute bronchitis, combination products: a 2015 review of four trials found thyme combined with ivy or primrose relieved cough better than placebo, and one 361-person trial of a thyme-ivy syrup cut coughing fits faster than placebo. These products contain more than thyme, so how much of the effect comes from thyme itself is not known.
- Insufficient
Coughs, thyme alone: EMA accepts thyme medicines for chesty coughs with a cold on the basis of long-standing use, and says there is insufficient evidence from clinical trials. The one trial it weighed (60 adults, compared with the cough medicine bromhexine) was too small and too loosely described for firm conclusions.
Be careful of
Cautions
- AllergyDo not use thyme medicines if you are allergic to thyme or to other plants in the mint family (Lamiaceae). A case report describes one person with repeated whole-body allergic reactions after eating oregano and thyme.
- NoteStomach upset may occur. See a clinician if a cough lasts more than a week, gets worse, or comes with shortness of breath, fever or pus-colored phlegm.
- ConditionChildren: EMA does not recommend most thyme medicines under age 12, and none under age 4. Thyme oil should not be taken by mouth under 18, and should never be put on the face, especially near the nose, of babies under 2, because it can cause a spasm of the voice box.
- AmountThese cautions are for thyme medicines, including the concentrated oil. EMA's monographs cover medicinal preparations, not thyme used to season food.
- InteractionEMA reports no known drug interactions for thyme medicines.
- PregnancyEMA says safety in pregnancy and breastfeeding has not been established and does not recommend thyme medicines then.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“It is a noble strengthener of the lungs, as notable a one as grows; neither is there scarce a better remedy growing for that disease in children which they commonly call the Chin-cough, than it is.”
Sources
- Thymi herba - herbal medicinal product (opens in a new tab) · EMA · read September 25, 2026
- Thyme: herbal medicine summary for the public (EMA/307113/2016) (opens in a new tab) · EMA · read September 25, 2026
- Community herbal monograph on Thymus vulgaris L. and Thymus zygis L., herba (EMA/HMPC/342332/2013) (opens in a new tab) · EMA · read September 25, 2026
- European Union herbal monograph on Thymus vulgaris L., Thymus zygis L., aetheroleum (EMA/HMPC/59032/2017) (opens in a new tab) · EMA · read September 25, 2026
- Herbal medicine for cough: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Forsch Komplementmed, 2015) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Efficacy and tolerability of a fluid extract combination of thyme herb and ivy leaves and matched placebo in adults suffering from acute bronchitis with productive cough (Arzneimittelforschung, 2006) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Labiatae allergy: systemic reactions due to ingestion of oregano and thyme (Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol, 1996) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.