eggplant

Etymology

It is formed from English egg + plant,^[2][3][4] because of the shape of the fruit,^[2][5] and was originally the name of the variety with white fruit.^[2][3][5] The OED compares German Eierpflanze, recorded from 1783 or earlier and now rare.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plant Solanum esculentum, at first the white-fruited variety: 1752, in Philip Miller's Gardeners Dictionary, under Melongena.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1763, Merriam-Webster to 1767, and Dictionary.com to 1760–70.^[3][6][4]

Semantic evolution

The name was later extended from the white variety to the purple-fruited one, also called aubergine.^[2] Ayto notes that in British English aubergine has gradually replaced the earlier eggplant, which American English has kept.^[7] Merriam-Webster also records eggplant as the name of a blackish purple colour.^[6] In US slang it was a Black term for a five-dollar bill (1944), and since the 1970s it has been a derogatory term for a Black person, after the dark skin of the fruit.^[8]

Timeline

• 1752 – the plant, first the white-fruited variety.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1763, Merriam-Webster to 1767.^[3][6]
• 1944 – US Black slang, a five-dollar bill.^[8]
• 1973 – US slang, a derogatory term for a Black person.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plant of the nightshade family, Solanum melongena, probably native to south-east Asia and grown for its large fruit: She planted tomatoes and eggplants in the same bed.^[6][2]
2. The smooth, egg-shaped, usually dark purple fruit of this plant, cooked as a vegetable; aubergine.^[6][7]
3. A dark, blackish purple colour.^[6]

Related words

• aubergine
• brinjal
• egg
• plant

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com