broccoli

Where does the word "broccoli" come from? It comes from Italian broccolo, and was adopted directly into English (1600s).

Broccoli’s story begins in Italian: broccolo meant “a small sprout or shoot.” The flowering top of a cabbage, a diminutive of brocco (a small nail, sprout). It reached English by 1600s as broccoli. Italian 'little sprouts'; Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello. Today, broccoli means a green vegetable with a dense cluster of edible flower buds.

1. Stage 1 · Italian · 1600s broccolo "a small sprout or shoot", the flowering top of a cabbage, a diminutive of brocco (a small nail, sprout).
2. Stage 2 · English · 1600s broccoli "a green vegetable with edible flower heads", Italian 'little sprouts'; Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello.