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spinach

Etymology and origin of the English word spinach

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈspɪnɪt͡ʃ/, /ˈspɪnɪd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spinache, borrowed from Old French espinache,[2][3][4][5][6] probably through Occitan espinarc and Spanish or Catalan, from Andalusian Arabic isbinākh,[3][4] ultimately from Arabic إِسْفَانَاخ (isfānākh), from Persian اسپاناخ (aspanākh, “spinach”).[2][3][4][5][6] The OED, however, doubts that the Eastern words are native, and calls the Romance words of doubtful origin.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The vegetable (before 1399 in Barnhart; late 14th century in Etymonline; 1530 in the OED);[3][4][7] it appears as a surname in 1267.[3]

Semantic evolution

A folk etymology connected the word with Latin spīna “thorn”, for the prickly seeds, or with Hispanicum olus “Spanish herb”.[4][6] In 1930s colloquial American English spinach meant nonsense or rubbish, after a famous New Yorker cartoon of 1928,[4][7] and Merriam-Webster also records the sense “something unwanted or spurious”.[5] Popeye the spinach-eating sailor first appeared in 1929.[4]

Timeline

  • 1267 – as a surname.[3]
  • before 1399 – the vegetable.[3]
  • 1530 – the OED's first quotation.[7]
  • 1928 – nonsense, rubbish (US colloquial).[7][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A widely grown plant, Spinacia oleracea, of southwestern Asian origin, with succulent edible leaves.
  2. The leaves of this plant, eaten as a vegetable.
  3. (US, informal, dated) Something unwanted or spurious; nonsense.

Word family

  • spinachy
  • chard
  • beet
  • kale

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Spinach.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/spinach. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·