Fennel

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈfɛnəl/

Definitions

1. A fragrant herb with feathery green leaves and small yellow flowers, having an anise-like flavor and used in cooking and traditional medicine
2. A type of herb that possesses feathery leaves and yellow flowers, recognized for its aromatic seeds and utilized both in culinary applications and traditional healing methods
3. A culinary herb characterized by delicate, feather-like leaves and yellow blooms, appreciated for its anise-flavored seeds used in food and herbal remedies

Etymology: Fennel's name is a diminutive of the Latin word for hay. Classical Latin "faeniculum" was formed from "faenum," meaning hay, so the plant was named as a little hay-like thing, a reference to its soft, feathery foliage. Over centuries the Latin form wore down through Vulgar and Late Latin into the Proto-West Germanic "*fenukl," the ancestor of the Old English forms "finule" and "finuðl." The word's relatives reveal how widely the plant's name travelled. Italian "finocchio" and French "fenouil" descend from the same Latin source, and Spanish "hinojo" shows the same root after a different set of sound changes. English "fennel" and Italian "finocchio" are doublets, two words from one origin that entered the language by different routes and took on different shapes.

Synonyms: anise, dill, caraway, cumin, fennel bulb