eggplant

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

[edit] English

An eggplant.

White eggplant fruits, whose resemblance to chicken eggs the plant is named

[edit] Alternative spellings

• egg-plant

[edit] Etymology

From egg + plant, originally applied only to the white-colored variety.

[edit] Pronunciation

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Noun

eggplant (plural eggplants)

1. Solanum melongena
2. Aubergine, the edible fruit of the Solanum melongena.
3. A dark purple color.

   eggplant colour:

4. (slang, derogatory, offensive) A black person (used mainly by Italian-Americans).
   • 2004, Wendy Coakley-Thompson, Back to Life

     "Why am I not surprised?" This was the limit. "You know, I'm black enough for his family to yell eggplant-this and nigger-that at me," she said.

   • 2006, Jerome Charyn, Raised by wolves: the turbulent art and times of Quentin Tarantino

     What else can he do? But Hopper continues his riff. "Sicilians still carry that nigger gene . . . Your ancestors are niggers. You're part eggplant."

[edit] Synonyms

• (fruit): aubergine, brinjal, brown jolly

[edit] Translations

[edit] See also

• Eggplant on Wikipedia.Wikipedia