Celery

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsɛl.ə.ɹi/

Definitions

1. A crisp green vegetable with long fibrous stalks, commonly eaten raw or used in cooking for its mild, slightly bitter flavor
2. A green, crunchy plant with elongated stems that is often consumed raw in salads or used as a flavoring ingredient in various dishes
3. This fibrous vegetable features tall, green stalks that can be enjoyed fresh or incorporated into soups, stews, and other recipes for taste

Etymology: The vegetable we crunch today was once prized as a medicine and a flavouring, not a salad. The ancient Greeks called the plant "sélīnon", and the Romans borrowed it as "selīnum". Its name then travelled through the Lombards, the Germanic people who ruled northern Italy, where the word took a plural form, "selleri", which the French adopted as "céleri". English had its own word for the plant before celery arrived. "March" and "smallage" named the wild version, a bitter herb that grew in marshy ground. Celery entered English as a cultivated plant, and the newcomer gradually pushed those older names out of everyday use. The word therefore carries a long chain of borrowings: Greek to Latin to Lombard to French to English. Each step kept the same basic shape, so a Greek herb name survives almost unchanged in a vegetable that English cooks chop into soups and stews.

Synonyms: vegetable, stalk