vegetable

English Online Dictionary. What means vegetable‎? What does vegetable mean?

English

Alternative forms

• vegitable (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Related to vigil, vigour, vajra, and waker.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/, [ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bl̩], /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.ə.tə.bəl/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈved͡ʒi.ʈabil/, (spelling pronunciation) /-ˌʈeːbil/
• (US, Canada, dialectal) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛt͡ʃ.tə.bəl/

Noun

vegetable (plural vegetables)

1. Any plant.
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: (informal) veg, (informal) veggie

3. The edible part of such a plant.

   Synonyms: (informal) veg, (informal) veggie

4. (figuratively, derogatory) A person whose brain (or, infrequently, whose body) has been damaged to the point that they cannot interact with the surrounding environment; a person in a persistent vegetative state.

   Synonym: cabbage

5. (RAF, slang, historical) A mine (explosive device).

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

vegetable (not comparable) (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

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

Descendants

• → Fanagalo: vejetebel
• Krio: vɛjitebul
• Tok Pisin: vejetebel

Translations

Further reading

• vegetable on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• vegetable (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia