Vegetables

Vegetables

Plural Noun · /ˈvedʒtəb(ə)lz/ · a collective group of edible plants; the category of plant-based foods in everyday life

Definition

Vegetables is the plural of vegetable — the collective word for the full range of edible plants and plant parts that form a central part of the human diet. Eat your vegetables. Fresh vegetables from the market. A diet rich in vegetables. The plural form is used when referring to the category as a whole, to a variety of items together, or to general dietary advice.

Origin

Vegetables follows the standard English plural formation: vegetable plus -s. The singular vegetable arrived in English in the fifteenth century from Medieval Latin vegetabilis — growing, enlivening. The plural became culturally significant as agriculture, trade, and cookery developed. By the eighteenth century, eating one's vegetables was already embedded in household language, and the phrase remains instantly recognisable today across all English-speaking cultures.