Etymology

turnip

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Today it means: The white root of a yellow-flowered plant, Brassica rapa, grown as a vegetable and as fodder for cattle. Full definition →

Middle English turnepe ← Old English nǣp ← Latin nāpus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromnāpus
  2. Old English · inherited fromnǣp
  3. Middle English · inherited fromnepe
  4. Middle English · inherited fromturnepe
  5. English todayturnip

From Middle English turnepe, probably from turn + Middle English nepe, from Old English nǣp, from Latin nāpus. The component turn may be due to the round shape of the plant as though turned on a lathe, or because it must be turned and twisted to be harvested. Cognate to neep. See also parsnip.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishnǣp all →

neep

Latinnāpus all →

neepnapiformnavew

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.