turnip

Etymology

It is apparently formed from English turn + neep,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} first written turnepe,^[7][5][3] but the first element is uncertain.^[2][8] If it is turn, the name may refer to a root as round as something shaped on a lathe;^[2][3][8][4] Ayto calls this link purely conjectural,^[8] and the Shorter Oxford and Hoad leave the element unexplained.^[9][10] The Middle English Dictionary and Skeat also consider Old French tor (“turn”) or tour,^[7][11] which the OED thinks less likely,^[2] and Skeat rejects a suggested Latin terrae napus because of the spelling.^[11] The second element is Middle English nepe,^[3][6] from Old English nǣp, Anglian nēp,^[3][10] from Latin nāpus (“turnip”),^[2][10][12] itself of uncertain origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plant Brassica rapa: before 1500, turnepe in a list of herbs.^[7][5][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1533,^[4] and the revised OED starts with its edible root in about 1537, in T. Elyot's Castell of Helthe.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The name spread to other plants with fleshy roots or tubers from 1578, in Lyte's herbal.^[2] From 1765 it also named the swollen stem of kohlrabi.^[2] Etymonline dates the modern spelling to the late 18th century,^[3] and dialect speakers said tonnup in East Yorkshire and to'nup in Lincolnshire.^[13] Because of its shape the word became slang for a large thick pocket watch, from 1823,^[14][2] and a name for a stupid person or country bumpkin, from 1837 in Dickens's Pickwick Papers;^[2][9] the English Dialect Dictionary has turnip-head for a blockhead.^[13] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records a dull work.^[4] Green's dictionary finds it used for the penis in 1659 and again in 1837.^[14] Other phrases pun on turn up: to give someone turnips, to jilt a lover (1819–55), and the humorous a turnip for the books (1966).^[2]

Timeline

• before 1500 – turnepe, in a list of herbs.^[7][5][3]
• c. 1537 – the edible root.^[2]
• 1578 – other plants with fleshy roots or tubers.^[2]
• 1659 – slang, the penis.^[14]
• 1733 – verb, to plant land with turnips (obsolete after 1854).^[2]
• 1765 – the swollen stem of kohlrabi.^[2]
• 1794 – verb, to feed livestock on turnips.^[2]
• 1823 – slang, a large pocket watch.^[14] The OED's first quotation is from 1825.^[2]
• 1837 – a stupid or unsophisticated person.^[2]
• 1966 – a turnip for the books, an unexpected turn of events.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The firm, rounded white or yellow root of a cultivated plant, eaten as a vegetable and used to feed livestock.^[15][4][2]
2. The plant itself, Brassica rapa, a cruciferous herb.^[15][4][2]
3. Any of several similar plants, such as kohlrabi or the rutabaga.^[15][4][2]
4. (historical slang) A large, thick pocket watch.^[4][2][9]
5. (colloquial) A stupid person; a blockhead.^[4][2][9]
6. A dull, unexciting work.^[4]

Verb

1. To feed livestock, especially sheep, on turnips.^[2]

Word family

• turniplike
• Indian turnip
• prairie turnip

Related words

• neep
• turn
• parsnip
• navew

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ a b 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)
14. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins