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turnip - 4 dictionary results

tur⋅nip

  [tur-nip]
Use turnip in a Sentence
–noun
1. the thick, fleshy, edible root of either of two plants of the mustard family, the white-fleshed Brassica rapa rapifera or the yellow-fleshed rutabaga.
2. the plant itself.
3. the root of this plant used as a vegetable.
Origin:
1525–35; earlier turnep(e), equiv. to turn (with reference to its neatly rounded shape) + nepe neep

Related forms:
tur⋅nip⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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tur·nip   (tûr'nĭp)   
n.  
  1. A widely cultivated Eurasian plant (Brassica rapa) of the mustard family, having a large fleshy edible yellow or white root.
  2. The root of this plant, eaten as a vegetable.

[tur-, of unknown meaning + dialectal nepe, turnip (from Middle English, from Old English nǣp, from Latin nāpus).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Turnip

Tur"nip\, n. [OE. turnep; probably fr. turn, or F. tour a turn, turning lathe + OE. nepe a turnip, AS. n[=ae]pe, L. napus. Cf. Turn,v. t., Navew.] (Bot.) The edible, fleshy, roundish, or somewhat conical, root of a cruciferous plant (Brassica campestris, var. Napus); also, the plant itself. [Formerly written also turnep.]

Swedish turnip (Bot.), a kind of turnip. See Ruta-baga.

Turnip flea (Zo["o]l.), a small flea-beetle (Haltica, or Phyllotreta, striolata), which feeds upon the turnip, and often seriously injures it. It is black with a stripe of yellow on each elytron. The name is also applied to several other small insects which are injurious to turnips. See Illust. under Flea-beetle.

Turnip fly. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The turnip flea. (b) A two-winged fly (Anthomyia radicum) whose larv[ae] live in the turnip root.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : turnip
Spanish: nabo,
German: die Rübe,
Japanese: かぶ
More Translations »

turnip 
1533, turnepe, probably from turn (from its shape, as though turned on a lathe) + M.E. nepe "turnip," from O.E. næp, from L. napus "turnip." The modern form of the word emerged late 18c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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