Etymologically
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kale

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cale, also cal,[2][3][4] the northern form of cole, cabbage.[5][6][7][8][9] According to the OED, the Middle English forms are either inherited from Old English cāl, contracted from cāwel, or are borrowed from Old Norse kál;[5] Merriam-Webster and Collins derive the word from Old English,[3][10] while Ayto and Wright take the Scots form from Old Norse.[11][12] Barnhart notes an earlier form cawul, probably from about 1200.[13][14] Both the Old English and the Old Norse word go back to Latin caulis (“stem, stalk, cabbage”),[5][11][6] which Latin also gave to Italian cavolo, Spanish col and Old French chol (modern French chou).[5] Germanic cognates are Dutch kool and German Kohl.[6][5] Klein relates the Latin word to Ancient Greek καυλός (kaulós, “stem”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cabbage, colewort: the OED's first record is in Richard Rolle's Psalter, before 1340.[5] Barnhart dates kale to before 1300,[13] Etymonline to about 1300,[15] and Dictionary.com to 1250–1300.[2]

Semantic evolution

The OED explains that the usual northern English spelling was cale, now rare, and the Scots one kaill, kail;[5] kail remained common in Scots writers, but kale is the more usual general spelling.[5] The word survived in Scotland and the north of England while the south kept cole.[15][11] In general use it came to mean above all the variety with crinkled leaves that do not form a head, curly kale from the 17th century.[5][10] In Scots kail also meant broth made with cabbage, recorded from before 1480,[5][4] and then any vegetable soup;[5][12] from this, as Weekley and the English Dialect Dictionary note, it stood for food or dinner in general,[9][12] so that kail-time was dinner-time and kail-bell the dinner bell.[12] Wright records the word, as kail, keal, kyel and other forms, from Scotland, Ireland and the north of England south to Cheshire and Derbyshire, for cabbage and greens of all kinds and for broth.[12] A cabbage garden was a kailyard (1725), and since 1895 the word has been applied to a school of fiction describing common life in Scotland in dialect.[5][4][9] In North American slang kale has meant money since 1902,[15][16] a sense the OED dates from 1912;[5] Etymonline links it to the green colour of banknotes.[5][15]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – the form cawul.[13]
  • before 1300 – kale.[13]
  • before 1340 – cabbage, colewort, in Rolle's Psalter.[5]
  • before 1480 – broth made with kale.[5][4]
  • before 1646 – curled kale, German kale.[5]
  • 1660 – the Scottish phrase cauld kale het again, something stale served up again.[5]
  • 1725 – kailyard, in Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd.[5]
  • 1895 – kailyard fiction.[5][4]
  • 1902 – money (US slang).[15][16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hardy cabbage (Brassica oleracea acephala) with crinkled or curled leaves that do not form a head, eaten as a vegetable: She added a handful of chopped kale to the soup.[10][3][5]
  2. (Scotland) Cabbage, or greens in general.[10][3][12]
  3. (Scotland) Broth or soup made with cabbage or other vegetables.[3][5][12]
  4. (Scotland) Food; a meal, dinner.[12][9]
  5. (US slang) Money.[10][5][16]

Word family

  • Chinese kale
  • sea kale
  • cole
  • cauliflower
  • coleslaw
  • kohlrabi
  • kailyard
  • collard

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  16. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com