colewort

English

Growing head of B. oleracea Botrytis Group at Hooghly near Bandel in West Bengal, India

Alternative forms

• colwort (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English coolwort, coulwort, cole-wort, caule worte, equivalent to cole +‎ wort.

Noun

colewort (usually uncountable, plural coleworts)

1. A plant of the genus Brassica; now specifically, a Brassica plant without a head used for food, such as kale.
   • 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC:

     Fat coleworts, and comforting perseline , Cold lettuce , and refreshing rosmarine

   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia:

     [W]e may observe that water will more readily wet some woods then others; and that water, let fall upon a Feather, the whiter side of a Colwort, and some other leaves, or upon almost any dusty, unctuous, or resinous superficies, will not at all adhere to them, but easily tumble off from them, like a solid Bowl […].

Synonyms

• (headless Brassica): cole

Derived terms

• sea colewort

Related terms

• coleslaw

Translations

kale

• Catalan: col verda f
• French: chou (fr) m, chou commun m
• Greek: λαχανίδα (el) f (lachanída)
• Italian: ravizzone (it) m, cavolo (it) m
• Latin: ērūca f
• Occitan: caulet (oc) m
• Portuguese: couve (pt) f
• Romanian: varză nemțească f
• Spanish: col silvestre m