spinach

English

spinach leaves (Spinacia oleracea)

Alternative forms

• spinage (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English spinach, from Anglo-Norman spinache, from Old French espinoche, from Old Occitan espinarc, from Arabic إِسْفَانَاخ‎ (ʾisfānāḵ), from Persian اسپناخ‎ (ispanâx).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪnɪt͡ʃ/, /ˈspɪnɪd͡ʒ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪnɪt͡ʃ/, /ˈspɪnɪd͡ʒ/

Noun

spinach (countable and uncountable, plural spinaches)

1. A particular edible plant, Spinacia oleracea, or its leaves.
2. Any of numerous plants, or their leaves, which are used for greens in the same way Spinacia oleraceae is.
   1. Chinese spinach, red spinach (Amaranthus dubius)
   2. Malabar spinach red vine spinach, creeping spinach, climbing spinach, vine spinach, buffalo spinach, Ceylon spinach (Basella alba)
   3. mountain spinach (Atriplex hortensis)
   4. mustard spinach (Brassica juncea)
   5. New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides, syn. Tetragonia expansa)
   6. Okinawan spinach (Gynura bicolor)
   7. Sissoo spinach (Alternanthea sissoo)
   8. strawberry spinach (Chenopodium capitatum)
   9. water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica)
   10. (South Africa) wild spinach, African spinach (various nightshade, legume, and Cucurbitaceae species)
   11. spinach beet, perpetual spinach (Beta vulgaris: chard)
   12. Navajo spinach (Cleome serrulata)
   13. Lincolnshire spinach (Blitum bonus-henricus, syn. Chenopodium bonus-henricus: Good King Henry)
   14. French spinach, mountain spinach (Atriplex spp., Chenopodium rubrum)
   15. spinach dock (Rumex acetosa: common sorrel, garden sorrel)
   16. tree spinach:
       1. Cnidoscolus aconitifolius: chaya
       2. Chenopodium giganteum: magenta spreen, purple goosefoot, giant lambsquarters)
   17. Cuban spinach (Montia perfoliata)
3. Plants with spinach-like leaves that are noxious in some way
   1. Botany Bay spinach (Tetragonia spp.), which is toxic
   2. Cape spinach (Emex australis), which bears thorny seeds
   3. red spinach (Trianthema triquetra)
4. Plants with spinach-like leaves that have medicinal use
   1. cholesterol spinach, Mollucan spinach (Gynura nepalensis)

Translations

a particular edible plant, Spinacia oleracea

• Albanian: spinaqi
• Amharic: ቆስጣ (qosṭa)
• Arabic: سَبَانِخ‎ (ar) m (sabāniḵ), إِسْفَانَاخ‎ m (ʾisfānāḵ)

  Egyptian Arabic: سبانخ‎ f pl (sabāniḵ)

• Armenian: սպանախ (hy) (spanax)

  Middle Armenian: սպանախ (spanax), շոմին (šomin), ծմել (cmel)

• Aromanian: spãnac n
• Assamese: পালেং শাক (palêng xak), পালেং (palêng)
• Azerbaijani: ispanaq
• Belarusian: шпіна́т m (špinát)
• Bole: alayyapo
• Bulgarian: спанак m (spanak)
• Catalan: espinac (ca) m
• Central Dusun: sansam
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 菠菜 (bo¹ coi³)

  Mandarin: 菠菜 (zh) (bōcài)

• Czech: špenát (cs) m
• Danish: spinat (da) c
• Dutch: spinazie (nl) m
• Duwai: alayaho
• Esperanto: spinaco (eo)
• Faroese: spinat n
• Finnish: pinaatti (fi)
• French: épinards (fr) m pl
• Georgian: ისპანახი (isṗanaxi)
• German: Spinat (de) m
• Greek: σπανάκι (el) n (spanáki)

  Ancient: σπανακόν n (spanakón), σπάναξ m (spánax)

• Greenlandic: spinatit
• Hausa: alayyaho (ha)
• Hebrew: תרד‎ (he) m (tered)
• Hindi: पालक (hi) (pālak)
• Hungarian: spenót (hu)
• Hunsrik: Spinaat m
• Icelandic: spínat (is) n
• Ido: spinato (io)
• Interlingua: spinacia
• Irish: spionáiste m
• Italian: spinacio (it) m
• Japanese: 菠薐草 (ja) (ほうれんそう, hōrensō)
• Karekare: alayyaho
• Kazakh: cаумалдық (cawmaldıq)
• Korean: 시금치 (ko) (shigeumchi)

• Kumyk: испанакъ (ispanaq)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmancî: spînax (ku) f, siyale

  Soranî: espenax, spênax

• Kyrgyz: шпинат (şpinat)
• Latin: blitum n, spinacia
• Latvian: spināti pl
• Luxembourgish: Päinetsch m
• Macedonian: спанаќ m (spánaḱ)
• Malagasy: lalada
• Malay: bayam
• Maltese: spinaċi m
• Maori: rengarenga, rengamutu, kōkihi
• Marathi: पालक n (pālaka)
• Navajo: waaʼ
• Norman: bette f
• Norwegian: spinat (no)
• Persian: اسفناج‎ (fa) (esfenâj)
• Polish: szpinak (pl) m
• Portuguese: espinafre (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਪਾਲਕ f (pālak)
• Romanian: spanac (ro) n
• Romansch: spinat m
• Russian: шпина́т (ru) m (špinát)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: спанаћ m, шпинат m

  Roman: spanać (sh) m, špinat (sh) m

• Slovak: špenát m
• Slovene: špinača f
• Spanish: espinaca (es)
• Swedish: spenat (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠢꠣꠉ (hag)
• Tachawit: abitas
• Tagalog: espinaka
• Tajik: исфаноҷ (isfanoj)
• Thai: ผักโขม (pàk kŏhm)
• Turkish: ıspanak (tr)
• Turkmen: ysmanak
• Ukrainian: шпинат m (špynát)
• Uzbek: ismaloq (uz)
• Vietnamese: rau bina
• Volapük: spinad
• Walloon: spinasse (wa) f, spinåd (wa) m
• Yiddish: שפּינאַט‎ m (shpinat)

See also

• Popeye

Anagrams

• Chapins

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• spinage, spynache, spynage, spinoch, spynoch, spinarge, spynarche

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman spinache, from Old Occitan espinarc, from Arabic إِسْفَانَاخ‎ (ʾisfānāḵ), from Persian اسپناخ‎ (ispanâx).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspinatʃ(ə)/, /ˈspinadʒ(ə)/, /ˈspinartʃ(ə)/

Noun

spinach (plural spinoches)

1. spinach (Spinacia oleracea)

Descendants

• English: spinach

References

• “spinache (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-24.