Saag

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of leafy green vegetable frequently used in South Asian cuisine, typically prepared as a curry or dish dedicated to its savory flavor
2. A dish made from cooked green leaves, especially mustard greens, served with various spices and often paired with bread or rice
3. Leafy greens that are central to certain culinary traditions, especially in Indian cooking, known for their rich textures and health benefits

Etymology: "Saag" arrived in English from Hindi, where "sāg" is the everyday word for leafy greens cooked as a vegetable. In Hindi the term covers a broad range of greens rather than one specific plant, and that breadth is part of what English took on when it borrowed the word for the dish. Its current sense in English, a spiced preparation built around greens such as mustard, spinach or fenugreek, follows the Indian culinary usage closely. The word's journey into English is comparatively recent and tied to the spread of Punjabi and North Indian cooking in Britain and beyond, where the dish became familiar enough that the Hindi name was kept rather than translated. Readers who meet it on a menu are therefore encountering the original Hindi term, not an English coinage or a loose transliteration of a local dialect word.

Synonyms: spinach, greens