vegetable English · revision 14919

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1398|origins=la vegeō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈvedʒ.tə.bəl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|vegetable|t=living, fit to live]] and directly [[la-med|vegetābilis|t=growing, flourishing]], in Late Latin “animating, enlivening”,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la|vegetō|t=to enliven, animate]], from [[m|la|vegetus|t=lively, active]], from [[m|la|vegeō|t=to be alive, active]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*weg-|t=to be strong, be lively]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Living and growing as a plant: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew;^(Barnhart 1988) about 1400 in the OED, the early 15th century in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Relating to plants is from the 1580s.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) As a noun, any plant, it is from 1582,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and a plant grown for food is not recorded before 1767.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The Old English word was wyrt (see [[wort]]).^(Etymonline) A dull, uneventful life is ''vegetable'' from 1854,^(Etymonline) a person who leads one from 1921,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and a person totally incapacitated from 1976.^(Etymonline) Vegetarian is an irregular formation of the mid-19th century, and ''veg out'', to idle mindlessly, arose in the 1970s.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1398 – living as a plant.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1582 – a plant (noun).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1767 – a plant grown for food.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1854 – dull, uneventful.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1921 – a person living a dull life.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1970s – veg out.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A plant grown for an edible part, such as the root of the beet or the leaves of spinach; that part as food.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Any plant; a member of the plant kingdom.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(offensive)'' A person who has lost the use of the mind or body, as from an injury.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A dull, inactive person.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of, relating to or derived from plants.^(AHD)

+ # Made from vegetables.^(Collins 2023)

+ # Resembling a plant, or growing like one.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nonvegetable]]

+ * [[vegetably]]

+ * [[veggie]]

+ * [[hydrolyzed vegetable protein]]

+ * [[textured vegetable protein]]

+ * [[vegetable butter]]

+ * [[vegetable ivory]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vegan]]

+ * [[vegetate]]

+ * [[vegetation]]

+ * [[vegetarian]]

+ * [[vigil]]

+ * [[vigor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}