Meanings
alfalfa1
plural alfalfas
- uncountableA plant, principally of Medicago sativa, grown as a pasture crop.
“No place for rabbits now, but I could easy build a few hutches and you could feed alfalfa to the rabbits.”
1937, John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, New York: Covici Friede, page 100Synonyms: lucerne
Alfalfa2
- An unincorporated community in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States, originally named Boise.
- abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Alfalfa County, Oklahoma.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA plant, principally of Medicago sativa, grown as a pasture crop.
More synonyms by meaning
nounimportant European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
alfalfa · noun
- Arabicالْفَصْفَصَة“alfalfa, lucerne”
- Old Spanishalfalfez
- Spanishalfalfa
- Englishalfalfa
PIE word *h₁éḱwos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *HéHḱus Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos Proto-Indo-Iranian *Háćwas Proto-Iranian *Hácwah Proto-Iranian *Hástiš Proto-Iranian *HacwaHastiš Old Median *aspāstišder. Arabic فَصْفَص (faṣfaṣ)bor. Old Spanish alfalfez Spanish alfalfabor. English alfalfa From Spanish alfalfa, from Old Spanish alfalfez, from Arabic الْفَصْفَصَة (al-faṣfaṣa, “alfalfa, lucerne”).
More words from Spanish, Old Spanish, Arabic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic فَصْفَص
- فَصْفَص (faṣfaṣ)Medicago sativa
Bulgarian люцерна
- люцерна (ljucerna)Medicago sativa
Catalan alfals
- alfalsMedicago sativa
Chinese Mandarin 苜蓿, 紫花苜蓿
- 苜蓿 (mùxu)Medicago sativa
- 紫花苜蓿 (zǐhuā mùxu)Medicago sativa
Czech vojtěška
- vojtěškaMedicago sativa
Dutch luzerne
- luzerneMedicago sativa
Esperanto luzerno
- luzernoMedicago sativa
Finnish sinimailanen, alfalfa
- sinimailanenMedicago sativa
- alfalfaMedicago sativa
French luzerne
- luzerneMedicago sativa
German Luzerne, Alfalfa
- LuzerneMedicago sativa
- AlfalfaMedicago sativa
Hebrew אספסת
- אספסת (aspéset)Medicago sativa
Hungarian lucerna
- lucernaMedicago sativa
Irish alfalfa m4
- alfalfa m4Medicago sativa
Italian erba medica
- erba medicaMedicago sativa
Japanese アルファルファ, ルーサン
- アルファルファ (arufarufa)Medicago sativa
- ルーサン (rūsan)Medicago sativa
- ムラサキウマゴヤシ (murasaki uma-goyashi)Medicago sativa
- モクシュク (mokushuku)Medicago sativa
Latin mēdica
- mēdicaMedicago sativa
Persian یونجه, اسپست
- یونجهMedicago sativa
- اسپست (espest, aspest)Medicago sativa
Polish lucerna
- lucernaMedicago sativa
Portuguese alfafa
- alfafaMedicago sativa
Romanian lucernă
- lucernăMedicago sativa
Russian люце́рна
- люце́рна (ljucérna)Medicago sativa
Slovak lucerna, alfalfa
- lucernaMedicago sativa
- alfalfaMedicago sativa
Spanish alfalfa, mielga
- alfalfaMedicago sativa
- mielgaMedicago sativa
Swedish alfalfa, blålusern
- alfalfaMedicago sativa
- blålusernMedicago sativa
- foderlusernMedicago sativa
Tagalog alpalpa
- alpalpaMedicago sativa
Turkish yonca
- yoncaMedicago sativa
Welsh alffalffa
- alffalffaMedicago sativa
Yiddish לוצערן
- לוצערן (lutsern)Medicago sativa
Cite this entry
alfalfa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alfalfa
“alfalfa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alfalfa. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “alfalfa,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alfalfa.
Source: alfalfa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.