# vegetable

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ · frequency rank #7,869

## Definitions
1. Any plant.
2. A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice in the culinary sense.
3. The edible part of such a plant.
4. A person whose brain (or, infrequently, whose body) has been damaged to the point that they cannot interact with the surrounding environment; a person in a persistent vegetative state.
5. A mine (explosive device).

## Etymology
From Middle English vegetable, from Old French vegetable, from Latin vegetābilis (“able to live and grow”), derived from vegetāre (“to enliven”). Displaced Old English wyrt and ofett.
Related to vigil, vigour, vajra, and waker.

## Easily confused with
- **venerable** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vegetable-vs-venerable)
- **veritable** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vegetable-vs-veritable)
- **vegetables** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vegetable-vs-vegetables)

## Common misspellings (14)
`evgetable`, `veegtable`, `vegeatble`, `vegetabble`, `vegetabel`, `vegetablle`, `vegetalbe`, `vegetbale`, `vegetible`, `vegettable`, `veggetable`, `vegteable`, `vgeetable`, `vvegetable`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/vegetable