Potagers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A garden devoted to growing vegetables and herbs for household use, often incorporating flowers for aesthetic appeal
2. An area cultivated primarily for the production of edible plants, particularly those for domestic cooking and seasoning
3. A type of kitchen garden where various types of vegetables and herbs are cultivated for personal consumption and culinary purposes

Etymology: "Potagers" is simply the plural of "potager," so its story is the story of the singular form. The noun traces back to Middle French "potager," a formation from "potage," the word for soup or pottage, which in turn came from the French for a cooking pot. The link is a literal one: a potager was the patch that supplied the pot, the place where the cook gathered the herbs and vegetables that went into the stew. English borrowed the word from Middle French in the Middle English period, and it kept the connection to food and cooking. Over time, the French pronunciation has sometimes been adopted in English, so many speakers say it with a nasal vowel and a silent final consonant, even though its spelling and meaning remain rooted in the idea of the cooking pot.

Synonyms: kitchen gardens, vegetable gardens, herb gardens, gardens, cultivations