Wiktionary

vegetable

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English vegetable, from Old French vegetable, from Latin vegetābilis (“able to live and grow”), derived from vegetāre (“to enliven”). Displaced native Old English wyrt.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

vegetable (plural vegetables)

  1. Any plant.
    • 1837, The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (volume 23, page 222)
      That he might ascertain whether any of the cloths of ancient Egypt were made of hemp, M. Dutrochet has examined with the microscope the weavable filaments of this last vegetable.
  2. A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice in the culinary sense.
    Synonyms: veg, veggie
  3. The edible part of such a plant.
    Synonyms: veg, veggie
  4. (figuratively, derogatory) A person whose brain (or, infrequently, body) has been damaged so that they cannot interact with the surrounding environment; a person in a persistent vegetative state.
    Synonym: cabbage

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

See vegetable/translations § Noun.

AdjectiveEdit

vegetable (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to plants.
  2. Of or relating to vegetables.

TranslationsEdit

Further readingEdit

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