vegetable
pronunciation
How to pronounce vegetable in British English:
UK [ˈvedʒtəbl]
How to pronounce vegetable in American English:
US [ˈvedʒtəbl]
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- Noun:
- edible seeds or roots or stems or leaves or bulbs or tubers or nonsweet fruits of any of numerous herbaceous plant
- any of various herbaceous plants cultivated for an edible part such as the fruit or the root of the beet or the leaf of spinach or the seeds of bean plants or the flower buds of broccoli or cauliflower
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- Adjective:
- of the nature of or characteristic of or derived from plants
Word Origin
- vegetable
- vegetable: [14] Latin vegēre meant ‘be active’ (it was formed from the same Indo-European base as lies behind English vigil, vigour, and wake). From it was derived vegetus ‘active’, which in turn formed the basis of vegetāre ‘enliven, animate’. From this again came late Latin vegetābilis ‘enlivening’, which came to be applied specifically to plant growth.It was in this sense that the word entered English (via Old French vegetable), and it was not further narrowed down to ‘plant grown for food’ until the 18th century. Its semantic descent from its original links with ‘life, liveliness’ was completed in the early 20th century, when vegetable came to be used for an ‘inactive person’. The derivative vegetarian was formed in the early 1840s, and vegan was coined from this around 1944.=> vigil, vigour, wake
- vegetable (adj.)
- early 15c., "capable of life or growth; growing, vigorous;" also "neither animal nor mineral, of the plant kingdom, living and growing as a plant," from Old French vegetable "living, fit to live," and directly from Medieval Latin vegetabilis "growing, flourishing," from Late Latin vegetabilis "animating, enlivening," from Latin vegetare "to enliven," from vegetus "vigorous, enlivened, active, sprightly," from vegere "to be alive, active, to quicken," from PIE *weg- (2) "be strong, lively," source of watch (v.), vigor, velocity, and possibly witch (see wake (v.)). The meaning "resembling that of a vegetable, dull, uneventful; having life such as a plant has" is attested from 1854 (see vegetable (n.)).
- vegetable (n.)
- mid-15c., "non-animal life," originally any plant, from vegetable (adj.); specific sense of "plant cultivated for food, edible herb or root" is first recorded 1767. Meaning "person who leads a monotonous life" is recorded from 1921; sense of "one totally incapacitated mentally and physically" is from 1976. The Old English word was wyrt (see wort). The commonest source of words for vegetables in Indo-European languages are derivatives of words for "green" or "growing" (compare Italian, Spanish verdura, Irish glasraidh, Danish grøntsager). For a different association, compare Greek lakhana, related to lakhaino "to dig."
Synonym
inert idle stationary passive inactive inanimate immobile dormant moron comatose supine sluggish do-nothing lazy imbecile static patient quiescent mindless brainless lethargic motionless leaden idiot dull human stagnant slack nonfunctioning deal blob logy unthinking otiose indolent brain stupid
Example
- 1. Swap creamy sauces for tomato or vegetable based options .
- 2. Cereals and vegetable oils nearly doubled in price in that time .
- 3. Swiss chard : a leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes .
- 4. Mr ransdell walks home from work and knows the baker and the vegetable seller on his block .
- 5. Each week increase the number of meatless meals you already enjoy such as spaghetti with tomato sauce or vegetable stir-fry .