fennel
/ˈfɛnəl/ noun, proper noun
Forms fennels
- noun A plant, Foeniculum vulgare, of the parsley family, which has a sweet, anise-like flavor.
- noun (cooking) The bulb, leaves, or stalks of the plant, eaten as a vegetable.
- noun (cooking) The seeds of the fennel plant used as a spice in cooking.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From the Middle English fenel, from the late Old English finuðl, finule (weak feminine forms); fenol, finul (masculine forms), from Proto-West Germanic *fenukl, from the Vulgar Latin *fēnuclum, fēnoclum, from Late Latin fēnuculum, from the Classical Latin faeniculum, a diminutive form of faenum (“hay”); compare the Italian finocchio, the Occitan fenolh, the French fenouil, and the Spanish hinojo. Doublet of finocchio and finook.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A perennial plant of the genus Fæniculum (F.vulgare), having very finely divided leaves. It is cultivated in gardens for the agreeable aromatic flavor of its seeds.
Etymology [AS. fenol, finol, from L. feniculum, faeniculum, dim. of fenum, faenum, hay: cf. F. fenouil. Cf. Fenugreek. Finochio.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fennel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details