Coulwort

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic name for a leafy cabbage-like plant of the cabbage family, grown for its edible leaves
2. An obsolete term for cabbage or kale, a cultivated brassica valued for its broad edible leaves
3. A old-fashioned word for a leafy green brassica plant, the kind of cabbage or kale grown in kitchen gardens

Etymology: The first half of "coulwort" is "cole," the Old English "cawel," borrowed from Latin "caulis," meaning "stalk" or "cabbage." The second half is "wort," from Old English "wyrt," meaning "plant" or "herb," as in St John's wort. A coulwort is therefore literally a "cabbage-plant," and the word is a variant of "colewort," a name that was common for centuries before cabbages were widely grown as heading vegetables. "Cole" has a surprising relative in modern English. "Kale" descends from the same Old English word, through a northern and Scots form, so the leafy green on a restaurant plate and the old word for cabbage are two branches of one root. The same Latin source also gives us "cauliflower," which combines "caulis" with "flower."