Talk:groente

@Rua, Mnemosientje, Lambiam, DrJos, Morgengave, Voltaigne The second Dutch usage note reads as follows: "While groentetje is the regular form of the diminutive, it is not often used, likely because of its more difficult, less smooth pronunciation. Groentje is the commonly used dimunitive." I do not know about you, but I never use and have never heard any diminutive of this noun and both these diminutives sound very weird to me. I only use groentje in the meaning "newbie". Woordenlijst.org does not show any diminutives either. Is this usage of the diminutive regional? ←₰-→ Lingo ^Bingo _Dingo (talk) 18:21, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

@Lingo Bingo Dingo Groentje is the Flemish-Dutch dimunitive for groente, though not often used in the singular form. The plural groentjes however is very common, in both speech and in text. Some attestations in cooking books: [1], [2], [3] Morgengave (talk) 19:23, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

I think groentjes deserves an entry as a plural-only noun; as used it does not just mean “veggies” but usually a ready-to-eat (prepared) assortment of veggies, cleaned and cut into bites, whether raw or roasted. You can often not substitute the term “groenten” in its place. Sometimes (although rarely) the noun “groen” is used as a synonym of “groente” (see e.g. here, here or here). Groentjes may originally be the plural of the diminutive of that noun.

@Lambiam I'd say the grammar at the first link is so nonstandard that it is hard to tell whether "green" (adj.) or "greens" (n.) is meant. In the second link it means "[something] green". I agree about the third link, though, so your proposed derivation may well be correct.

It might have looked less nonstandard if they had written groenrecepten. Note that they also write groente recepten.  --Lambiam 18:18, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

@Morgengave Do you know if there is also an equivalent term with a -ke diminutive? ←₰-→ Lingo ^Bingo _Dingo (talk) 17:18, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

@Lingo Bingo Dingo Yes, groenteke(n)s; see a.o. [4]. I have never heard anyone use "groen" for "groente" in Belgium, making it rather unlikely that a dimunitive as common as "groentje(s)" would be derived from it. Morgengave (talk) 19:15, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

@Morgengave, Lambiam I think the Flemish diminutive and the fact that using the diminutive is more typical of Belgian usage are quite good evidence that it is derived from groente.
The eWND does have groen for the leaves of tubers (knolgroen), esp. used as livestock feed, for many dialects in the southern Netherlands. Using groen for "vegetables" or "greens" would sound odd to me, though I know it in the meaning foliage; and groenvoer ("foliage used as fodder", used as a gloss in the eWND) can be used in a humorous way for "greens, vegetables" in my lect. I don't know whether the diminutive is used in the area of those dialects, but I don't think any of the example sentences in the dialect dictionaries had diminutives. ←₰-→ Lingo ^Bingo _Dingo (talk) 09:35, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

There is also the diminutive groentetjes, of which groentekes is a “regular” variant.  --Lambiam 16:22, 5 September 2020 (UTC)