vegetal

See also: végétal and vegetál

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin vegetālis, from Latin vegetō.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛd͡ʒɨtl̩/
• (General American) enPR: vĕjʹĭ-tl, IPA^(key): /ˈvɛd͡ʒɪ̈tl̩/
• Rhymes: -ɛdʒɪtəl
• Hyphenation UK: ve‧ge‧tal, US: veg‧e‧tal

Adjective

vegetal (comparative more vegetal, superlative most vegetal)

1. (now rare, historical) Capable of growth and reproduction, but not feeling or reason (often opposed to sensible and rational). [from 15th c.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition III, section 2, member 1, subsection i:

     Which although it be denominated from men, and most evident in them, yet it extends and shows itself in vegetal and sensible creatures […].

2. Pertaining to vegetables or plants. [from 16th c.]
   • 1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 22:

     The landscape of vegetal life is weird—no forests, no meadows, no green hills, no foliage, but clublike stems of plants armed with stilettos.

   • 2018, Susan Orlean, The Library Book, Simon and Schusterl, page 241:

     The Computer Center is muffled and dim, warm with whiffs of sourness, of body odor, and of the vegetal smells of dirt embedded in clothes that were advancing in the direction of compost.

3. (wine) Having a grassy, herbaceous taste.

Derived terms

• vegetality
• vegetally
• vegetal parchment
• vegetal pole
• vegetaline

Translations

pertaining to vegetables or plants

• Belarusian: расьлі́нны (rasʹlínny)
• Bulgarian: расти́телен (bg) (rastítelen)
• Catalan: vegetal (ca)
• Dutch: plantaardig (nl), vegetaal (nl)
• Esperanto: vegetala
• Finnish: kasvillinen (fi), kasvi-, kasvis-
• French: végétal (fr) m
• Georgian: მცენარეული (mcenareuli), მცენარეთა (mcenareta)
• German: pflanzlich (de)
• Hungarian: növényi (hu)
• Irish: plandúil
• Occitan: vegetal (oc)
• Polish: roślinny (pl)
• Portuguese: vegetal (pt) m or f
• Russian: расти́тельный (ru) (rastítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: vegetal (es)
• Ukrainian: росли́нний (uk) (roslýnnyj)

wine: having a grassy, herbaceous taste

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can

Noun

vegetal (plural vegetals)

1. (obsolete, chiefly botany) Any vegetable organism.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

     This melancholy extends itself not to men only, but even to vegetals and sensibles.

Anagrams

• gavelet

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin vegetālis, from Latin vegetō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bə.ʒəˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [və.ʒəˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ve.d͡ʒeˈtal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

vegetal m or f (masculine and feminine plural vegetals)

1. (relational) plant, vegetable; vegetal

Noun

vegetal m (plural vegetals)

1. plant, vegetable

   Synonym: planta

Derived terms

• vegetalisme
• vegetalista

Further reading

• “vegetal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Galician

Noun

vegetal m (plural vegetais, reintegrationist norm)

1. reintegrationist spelling of vexetal

Adjective

vegetal m or f (plural vegetais, reintegrationist norm)

1. reintegrationist spelling of vexetal

Further reading

• “vegetal”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

Interlingua

Adjective

vegetal (not comparable)

1. vegetal, vegetable

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ved͡ʒeˈtal/

Noun

vegetal m (plural vegetaj)

1. vegetable

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin vegetālis, from Latin vegetō.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ve.ʒeˈtaw/ [ve.ʒeˈtaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /vɨ.ʒɨˈtal/ [vɨ.ʒɨˈtaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /vɨ.ʒɨˈtal/ [vɨ.ʒɨˈtaɫ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɨ.ʒɨˈtal/ [bɨ.ʒɨˈtaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /vɨ.ʒɨˈta.li/

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: ve‧ge‧tal

Noun

vegetal m (plural vegetais)

1. vegetable (edible material derived from a plant)

   Synonyms: verdura f, planta f, erva f, hortaliça f

2. (figuratively) vegetable (person whose body or brain has been damaged so that they cannot interact with the surrounding environment)

Adjective

vegetal m or f (plural vegetais)

1. (relational) plant

   célula vegetal ― plant cell

Further reading

• “vegetal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “vegetal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French végétal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ve.d͡ʒeˈtal/

Adjective

vegetal m or n (feminine singular vegetală, masculine plural vegetali, feminine/neuter plural vegetale)

1. vegetal, vegetable

Declension

Declension of vegetal

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	vegetal		vegetală		vegetali	vegetale
	definite	vegetalul		vegetala		vegetalii	vegetalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	vegetal		vegetale		vegetali	vegetale
	definite	vegetalului		vegetalei		vegetalilor	vegetalelor

Further reading

• “vegetal”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin vegetālis, from Latin vegetō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bexeˈtal/ [be.xeˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ve‧ge‧tal

Adjective

vegetal m or f (masculine and feminine plural vegetales)

1. (relational) plant; vegetal

Derived terms

• aceite vegetal
• carbón vegetal
• seso vegetal

Noun

vegetal m (plural vegetales)

1. vegetable

   Synonym: verdura

Further reading

• “vegetal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025