Meanings
sprout1
plural sprouts
- A bean sprout.
- A Brussels sprout.
In our family we only eat sprouts once a year, at Christmas.
sprout2
present singular third person sprouts · participle present sprouting · participle past sprouted · past sprouted
- transitiveTo cause to grow from a seed.
I sprouted beans and radishes and put them in my salad.
- transitiveTo deprive of sprouts.
to sprout potatoes
- intransitiveTo emerge from the ground as sprouts.
- figurativelyintransitiveTo emerge haphazardly from a surface.
Whiskers sprouted from the old man's chin.
- figurativelyintransitiveTo emerge or appear haphazardly.
A lot of coffee shops have sprouted up in this neighbourhood since the block of flats was put up.
1 more example
In those early years of the 1830s and 1840s, railways were sprouting up all over the country in a haphazard way.
2023 August 23, David E Norris, “Joseph Locke: a railway injustice...”, in RAIL, number 990, page 56
Sprout3
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn edible variety of such, grown and intended as food; examples include bean, alfalfa, kale, and others.
verbTo grow from seed; to germinate.
More synonyms by meaning
verbproduce buds, branches, or germinate
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
sprout · noun
- Proto-West Germanic*spreutan
- Middle Low Germansprûte“sprout”
- Middle Dutchsprute
- Middle Englishsprouten“to sprout”
- Middle Englishsproute
- Englishsprout
From Middle English sproute, either from Middle English sprouten (“to sprout”) (see below); or from Middle Dutch sprute or Middle Low German sprûte (“sprout”), all related to Proto-West Germanic *spreutan. Doublet of spruit.
More words from Middle English, Middle Dutch, Middle Low German
Full word history & related roots →sprout · verb
- Proto-Germanic*spreutaną
- Proto-West Germanic*spreutan
- Old Englishsprūtan
- Middle Englishsprouten
- Englishsprout
From Middle English sprouten, spruten, from Old English sprūtan, from Proto-West Germanic *spreutan, from Proto-Germanic *spreutaną.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Sprout · proper noun
* As a Dutch surname, from spruit (“sprout, shoot”) * As an English and Scottish surname, spelling variant of Sprott
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek βλαστός, θάλλω
- βλαστός (blastós)new growth on a plant
- θάλλω (thállō)to grow, to germinate
- βλαστάνω (blastánō)to grow, to germinate
Arabic نَبْتَة, بُرْعُم
- نَبْتَة (nabta)new growth on a plant
- بُرْعُم (burʕum)new growth on a plant
Basque kimu, muskil
- kimunew growth on a plant
- muskilchild
Bulgarian издънка, потомък
- издънка (izdănka)new growth on a plant
- потомък (potomăk)child
- кълн (kăln)edible germinated seed
- прораствам (prorastvam)to grow, to germinate
- израствам (izrastvam)to cause to grow from a seed
- пониквам (ponikvam)to emerge from the soil as sprouts
Catalan brot, germinar
- brotnew growth on a plant
- germinarto grow, to germinate
- brotarto cause to grow from a seed
- brollarto emerge from the soil as sprouts
- brollarto emerge from a surface
Chinese Mandarin 芽, 發芽 /发芽
- 芽 (yá)new growth on a plant
- 發芽 /发芽 (fāyá)to cause to grow from a seed
- 发芽 (fāyá)to cause to grow from a seed
Czech klíček, výhonek
- klíčeknew growth on a plant
- výhoneknew growth on a plant
Danish spire
- spirenew growth on a plant
Dutch scheut, spruit
- scheutnew growth on a plant
- spruitnew growth on a plant
- spruitchild
- kiemgroenteedible germinated seed
- ontspruitento grow, to germinate
- uitschietento grow, to germinate
- laten ontkiemento cause to grow from a seed
Esperanto sproso, ĝermi
- sprosonew growth on a plant
- ĝermito grow, to germinate
- elkreskito grow, to germinate
Estonian idu, võsu
- idunew growth on a plant
- võsuchild
- iduedible germinated seed
- idanemato grow, to germinate
- tärkamato grow, to germinate
Finnish itu, vesa
- itunew growth on a plant
- vesanew growth on a plant
- vesachild
- ituedible germinated seed
- itääto grow, to germinate
- idättääto cause to grow from a seed
French pousse, jeune pousse
- poussenew growth on a plant
- jeune poussechild
- graine germéeedible germinated seed
- germerto grow, to germinate
- faire germerto cause to grow from a seed
German Spross, Sprössling
- Sprossnew growth on a plant
- Sprösslingnew growth on a plant
- Sprösslingchild
- Sprosschild
- Sprossenedible germinated seed
- sprießento grow, to germinate
- keimento grow, to germinate
- (Zweige) treibento grow, to germinate
- keimen (vt.)to cause to grow from a seed
- keimen (lassen)to cause to grow from a seed
- auskeimen (lassen)to cause to grow from a seed
- keimen (vi.)to emerge from the soil as sprouts
- aufkeimento emerge from the soil as sprouts
- sprießento emerge from a surface
- hervorsprießemto emerge from a surface
- wachsen (aus)to emerge from a surface
- auswachsento emerge from a surface
Greek ξεβλασταρώνω
- ξεβλασταρώνω (xevlastaróno)to grow, to germinate
Hebrew נֶבֶט, נבט
- נֶבֶט (névet)new growth on a plant
- נבט (névet)edible germinated seed
- נָבַט (navát)to grow, to germinate
- צָץ (tzatz)to grow, to germinate
- צָץ (tzatz)to emerge from a surface
Hindi अंकुर, पल्लव
- अंकुर (aṅkur)new growth on a plant
- पल्लव (pallav)new growth on a plant
- पल्लवी (pallavī)new growth on a plant
- उगना (ugnā)to grow, to germinate
- बढ़ना (baṛhnā)to grow, to germinate
- अंकुरण (aṅkuraṇ)to grow, to germinate
- अंकुरण (aṅkuraṇ)to cause to grow from a seed
- अंकुरण (aṅkuraṇ)to emerge from the soil as sprouts
Hungarian hajtás, csíra
- hajtásnew growth on a plant
- csíranew growth on a plant
- sarjnew growth on a plant
- sarjadéknew growth on a plant
- kihajtto grow, to germinate
- kicsírázikto grow, to germinate
Icelandic spíra, frjónál
- spíranew growth on a plant
- frjónálnew growth on a plant
Indonesian tunas, anakan
- tunasnew growth on a plant
- anakannew growth on a plant
- bertunasto grow, to germinate
Irish péacán, eascróg
- péacánnew growth on a plant
- eascrógnew growth on a plant
Italian germoglio, getto
- germoglionew growth on a plant
- gettonew growth on a plant
- pollonenew growth on a plant
- virgultonew growth on a plant
- germogliareto grow, to germinate
- germogliareto cause to grow from a seed
Japanese もやし, 芽
- もやし (moyashi)new growth on a plant
- 芽 (me)new growth on a plant
- 芽立ち (medachi)new growth on a plant
- 発芽する (hatsuga suru)to grow, to germinate
- スプラウト (supurauto)to cause to grow from a seed
Latin germen, turiō
- germennew growth on a plant
- turiōnew growth on a plant
- surculusnew growth on a plant
- germinōto grow, to germinate
- herbescoto grow, to germinate
Latvian dīgsts
- dīgstsnew growth on a plant
Māori pihi, mātātupu
- pihinew growth on a plant
- mātātupunew growth on a plant
- kotiranew growth on a plant
- kotirato grow, to germinate
- kōriroto grow, to germinate
- kotirato emerge from the soil as sprouts
- whakangaoto emerge from the soil as sprouts
- kōhurato emerge from the soil as sprouts
- mātātuputo emerge from the soil as sprouts
- mihamihato emerge from a surface
Persian جوانه
- جوانه (javâne)new growth on a plant
Polish berbeć, puszczać pędy
- berbećchild
- puszczać pędyto grow, to germinate
- puścić pędyto grow, to germinate
Portuguese broto, rebento
- brotonew growth on a plant
- rebentonew growth on a plant
- germinarto grow, to germinate
- brotarto cause to grow from a seed
Russian росто́к, побе́г
- росто́к (rostók)new growth on a plant
- побе́г (pobég)new growth on a plant
- прорастать (prorastatʹ)to grow, to germinate
Scottish Gaelic bachlag
- bachlagnew growth on a plant
Slovak klíček
- klíčeknew growth on a plant
Spanish brote, retoño
- brotenew growth on a plant
- retoñonew growth on a plant
- brotanew growth on a plant
- brotonew growth on a plant
- raijonew growth on a plant
- retoñochild
- brotarto cause to grow from a seed
Swedish skott, brodd
- skottnew growth on a plant
- broddnew growth on a plant
- groto grow, to germinate
Tamil முளை
- முளை (muḷai)to grow, to germinate
Thai งอก
- งอก (ngɔ̂ɔk)to grow, to germinate
Turkish filiz, sürgün
- filiznew growth on a plant
- sürgünnew growth on a plant
- bitmekto grow, to germinate
- filizlenmekto grow, to germinate
Ukrainian росто́к, па́гін
- росто́к (rostók)new growth on a plant
- па́гін (páhin)new growth on a plant
Welsh egino, egino
- eginoto grow, to germinate
- eginoto cause to grow from a seed
- eginoto emerge from the soil as sprouts
- eginoto emerge from a surface
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sprout
Anagrams
Cite this entry
sprout. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sprout
“sprout.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sprout. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sprout,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sprout.
Source: sprout on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.