asparagus

Borrowed from Medieval Latin asparagus, sparagus, from Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos), variant of ἀσφάραγος (aspháragos). Displaced Old English eorþnafola. Later eggcorned in dialect as sparrowgrass.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈspæɹ.ə.ɡəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈspæɹ.ə.ɡəs/, /əˈspɛɹ.ə.ɡəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

asparagus (plural asparagus or asparaguses or asparagusses or asparagi)

1. Any of various perennial plants of the genus Asparagus having leaflike stems, scalelike leaves, and small flowers.

   Synonyms: sparrowgrass, sparagus, sparagrass

2. The young shoots of Asparagus officinalis eaten as a vegetable.
3. A green colour, like that of an asparagus.

   asparagus:  

• asparagus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Asparagus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• “asparagus”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Also found in Medieval Latin. From Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos), variant of ἀσφάραγος (aspháragos).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [asˈpa.ra.ɡʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [asˈpaː.ra.ɡus]

asparagus m (genitive asparagī); second declension

1. asparagus; shoot, sprout-like asparagus, samphire
   • c. 160 BCE, Marcus Porcius Cato, De agri cultura‎^[1], archived from the original on 3 April 2022, chapter 161:

     Deinde fossulās facitō, quō rādīcēs asparagī dēmittās.

     Then make little ditches to drop the asparagus roots into.

   • 121 CE, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, “Divus Augustus”, in De Vita Caesarum, chapter 87:

     Cōtīdiānō sermōne quaedam frequenter et nōtābilius ūsurpāsse eum [Augustum], litterae ipsius autographae ostendunt, in quibus [...] ad exprimendam festīnātae reī vēlōcitātem, celerius quam asparagī cocuntur; [...]

     That in daily conversation he [Augustus] often and famously used certain [expressions], his own handwritten letters show; among these, [...] to express the speed of a thing done quickly, faster than asparaguses are cooked; [...]

Second-declension noun.

• “asparagus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “asparagus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• asparagus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Learned borrowing from Latin asparagus. Doublet of szparag.

• IPA^(key): /as.paˈra.ɡus/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɡus
• Syllabification: as‧pa‧ra‧gus

asparagus m animal or m inan

1. common asparagus fern, asparagus grass, lace fern, climbing asparagus, ferny asparagus (Asparagus setaceus)

   Synonyms: szparag, szparag pierzasty

2. shoots of Asparagus setaceus

• asparagus in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• asparagus in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• asparagus in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from French asparagus.

asparagus m (plural asparaguși)

1. asparagus