Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A plant (Brassica oleracea var. italica) in the mustard family, having dense clusters of numerous green flower buds.
- noun The flower clusters of this plant, eaten as a vegetable before the flower buds open.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One of the many varieties of the common cabbage (Brassica oleracea), in which the young inflorescence is contracted into a depressed fleshy edible head. It is closely similar to the cauliflower.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A plant of the Cabbage species (
Brassica oleracea ) of many varieties, resembling the cauliflower. The “curd,” or flowering head, is the part used for food.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A plant, Brassica oleracea var. italica, of the
cabbage family,Brassicaceae ; especially, the tree-shapedflower andstalk that are eaten as avegetable .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun plant with dense clusters of tight green flower buds
- noun branched green undeveloped flower heads
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word broccoli.
Examples
-
The word broccoli comes from the Latin broccolo, diminunitive of the term for a sprout.
WN.com - Articles related to Traders defy FDB ban on turkey tail
-
The word broccoli comes from the Latin broccolo, diminunitive of the term for a sprout.
WN.com - Articles related to Traders defy FDB ban on turkey tail
-
The word broccoli comes from the Latin broccolo, diminunitive of the term for a sprout.
WN.com - Articles related to Traders defy FDB ban on turkey tail
-
The word broccoli comes from the Latin broccolo, diminunitive of the term for a sprout.
WN.com - Articles related to Traders defy FDB ban on turkey tail
-
The mushrooms are canned, and the broccoli is also frozen.
-
A four-inch lizard found in some broccoli from a supermarket has now become a family pet.
-
Mix together chili and broccoli and microwave 5 minutes until broccoli is tender.
-
How many of us haven't yet figured out that broccoli is generally a better choice than a Big Mac?
-
The broccoli is nearly there, and the collards need to be eaten before they become leather.
i'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade
-
How many of us haven't yet figured out that broccoli is generally a better choice than a Big Mac?
five commented on the word broccoli
The word oozes out of my mouth in a process much similar to the regurgitation that occurs when I attempt to eat the vegetable.
April 17, 2008
plethora commented on the word broccoli
What an unpleasant image.
April 17, 2008
pterodactyl commented on the word broccoli
Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you say broccoli and broccolo, just as you can say spaghetti and spaghetto?
April 17, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word broccoli
Of course you can! And the same is for zucchina (s) and zucchine (pl), lasagna and lasagne... Berluscone and Berlusconi... no, not this one.
("Nobody is listing Berlusconi. Why don't you?"...
...I have my good reasons, thank you Wordie.)
April 17, 2008
bilby commented on the word broccoli
lol five, what a ripe comment! You need either elocution lessons or cookery classes, or both ;-)
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word broccoli
But wait. I understand what a zucchina is. But what's a broccola? The veggie seems singularly fractal to me, tough to make singular.
Broccoli always reminds me of the absurdly funny sketch on Saturday Night Live about an over-the-hill rocker singing "chopping broccoli" over and over again.
April 18, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word broccoli
A broccolo is a single broccoli head... but what the hell, I agree with you!
...and it's not the only Italian vegetable with identity problems.
April 18, 2008
reesetee commented on the word broccoli
"It's not the only Italian vegetable with identity problems."
Haha!
*wondering about cauliflower*
April 18, 2008
bilby commented on the word broccoli
I think Pro is alluding to finocchio.
There may be other vegetable brethren in the infirmary.
April 18, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word broccoli
I'm thinking of uva (grapes), that is a singulare tantum. W H Y ‽
April 18, 2008
reesetee commented on the word broccoli
Just teasing, bilby. I do like finocchio, though. And uva. Plural or singular. :-)
April 18, 2008
qroqqa commented on the word broccoli
Related etymologically to 'broach' (q.v. for more detail), 'brooch', and 'broker'.
March 6, 2009
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word broccoli
"I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli. Now look, this is the last statement I’m going to have on broccoli. There are truckloads of broccoli at this very minute descending on Washington. My family is divided. For the broccoli vote out there: Barbara loves broccoli. She has tried to make me eat it. She eats it all the time herself. So she can go out and meet the caravan of broccoli that’s coming in."
-March 1990 News Conference, George W. Bush
July 25, 2009
yarb commented on the word broccoli
Dubya? Or aitch dubya? Great quote though.
July 25, 2009
skipvia commented on the word broccoli
That would be aitch dubya. In 1990, dubya was probably too wasted to give a statement that coherent. Although, I guess he never reached that level even when he sobered up.
July 25, 2009
ruzuzu commented on the word broccoli
"The vegetable, of course, has been around for thousands of years, but in the United States it's been farmed commercially only since the 1920s, and the first advertising campaign on its behalf didn't occur until 1929—and even then, the ads were in Italian."
--from "Drumstick Lipstick, explained!" (about Cole Porter's song "You're the Top")
October 25, 2010
fbharjo commented on the word broccoli
Broccoli was first grown in the United States in Santa Clara, California. Before there was the Silicon Valley there was the Broccolian Valley.
October 25, 2010
yarb commented on the word broccoli
I feel like someone should write a tragicomic novel about the incipient Californian broccoli industry.
October 25, 2010
fbharjo commented on the word broccoli
And the title should be something like "From Cabbage Fleurs to Sandchips."
October 25, 2010
yarb commented on the word broccoli
It would be sort of a cross between "The Octopus" and "Vineland".
October 25, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word broccoli
The octopus? Yarb, are you psychic?
October 26, 2010
yarb commented on the word broccoli
If Pynchon carks it tomorrow then I guess I am.
October 26, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word broccoli
"2 days ago yarb said
If Pynchon carks it tomorrow then I guess I am."
*checks various news outlets*
I haven't seen anything....
October 29, 2010