Vegetables and fruit in English: description and origin of words

We often use words in our speech,related to domestic and economic topics. In this article, a lexical theme devoted to edible plants will be considered. Vegetables and fruit in English with translation and pronunciation in Russian will also be presented in this article.

Origin of word vegetable

Vegetables are a culinary definition, meaningedible part (for example, fruits or tubers) of various plants, as well as any solid food of plant origin, with the exception of fruits, cereals, mushrooms and nuts.

The word vegetable is translated into English asvegetable. It was first recorded in English in the early 15th century. It came into the language from the Old French language and was originally applied to all plants; the word is still used in this sense in biological contexts.

It comes from medieval Latin vegetabilis and translates as "growing, flourishing". Semantic transformation from the Late Latin language means "revitalization, acceleration".

The meaning of the word vegetable as a plant,grown for consumption, was not known until the 18th century. In 1767 the word was specifically used to denote all edible plants, herbs or root crops. In 1955, the first cut from vegetable to slang was used: veggie - "vegetarian".

As an adjective, the word vegetable (vegetable) inEnglish is used in scientific and technological meaning with another much broader definition, namely "related to plants" as a whole (edible or not), that is, an object of plant origin, a vegetable kingdom.

Vegetables in English with translation

Consider the names of the main fruits and vegetablesin English. The list will consist of those products that we use every day. Vegetables and fruits in English with translation and transcription are presented below:

1. Cabbage white - cabbage - [kæbədʒ] or white cabbage.

And the translation of its varieties and methods of preparation:

• wild - wild cabbage;
• marinated - pickled cabbage;
• Dried - dehydrated cabbage;
• sour - liberty cabbage;
• Chinese - celery cabbage;
• shredded - shredded cabbage;
• decorative - ornamental cabbage.

2. Garlic - garlic [ɡɑːrlɪk]; fragrant garlic.

Turnip - turnip [tɝːnəp].

3. Onion - onion [ʌnjən].

4. Leek - leek [liːk |].

5. Potatoes - potatoes [pəteɪtoʊz].

Stable word combinations with the word potatoes will be translated as follows:

• cooking potatoes-to boil potatoes;
• dig up potatoes - lift potatoes;
• young potatoes - new potatoes.

6. Carrot ordinary - carrot [kærət].

7. Tomato - tomato [təmeɪˌtoʊ].

Earlier, a tomato was called an apple of love. This is due to a literal translation from the Italian language. Vegetables and fruits in English are mostly of borrowed origin.

Translation of the main varieties of fruit in English

Let's move on to the topic of fruit. In English, the word "fruit" is translated as fruit ["fruːt] .In essence, it is not a botanical term, but rather, conversational and economic for the name of sweet large fruits.

Here is the list of the most common ones:

• apricot ["eɪprɪkɒt] - apricot;
• banana [bə ​​"nɑːnə] - banana;
• grape [greip] - grapes;
• grapefruit ["greɪpˌfruːt] - grapefruit;
• pear [peə] - pear;
• melon ["mɛlən] - melon;
• lemon ["lɛmən] - lemon;
• mandarine ["mænəriːn] - mandarin (word of Chinese origin);
• plum ["pləm] - plum;
• apple ["æpl] - apple;
• citrus ["sitrəs] - citrus;
• kiwi [kiːwiː] - kiwi;
• fig [fɪɡ] - figs;
• date [date] - a date (this word can be translated as a date);
• mango [mæŋɡoʊ] - mango;
• persimmon [pəsɪmən] - a persimmon;
• pomegranate [pɒmˌgrænɪt] - garnet;
• pineapple ["paɪnˌæpl] - pineapple.

Origin of plant terms

Most of the terms for vegetables and fruitsin English, are borrowed from other languages. For example, the word "tomato" comes to the European world from the empire of the Aztecs. The name of the tomato plant through the French tomate language fell into both English and Russian. In modern Russian, both names are equivalent.

The word potatoes (potatoes) comes fromSpanish, but in Spanish it came from the Quechua Indian language during the conquest by the conquistadors of South America. Thus, these two words denoting Solanaceae originate from the Indian languages ​​of Latin America.