Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Brassica oleracea italica

Brassica oleracea italica

4.6
A green vegetable with tight bunches of small flower buds that you eat cooked or raw
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : brócoli
  • The Brassica oleracea italica grown in this region is prized for its tender florets.

Examples

  • At the farmer's market, I always pick up fresh Brassica oleracea italica to use in my stir-fry recipes.

  • Did you know that Brassica oleracea italica is rich in vitamins?

  • Farmers rotate crops each year, often planting Brassica oleracea italica after legumes to enrich the soil.

  • Researchers studied the growth patterns of Brassica oleracea italica in varying soil conditions.

  • I love cooking with Brassica oleracea italica.

  • The Brassica oleracea italica in our garden produces sweet and crunchy florets that are perfect for salads.

  • Eating Brassica oleracea italica regularly can contribute to a healthy diet because it is low in calories and high in nutrients.

Synonyms

broccoli
vsBrassica oleracea italica
95 1.0

A green vegetable with thick stems and small tight flower buds that you eat

is the scientific Latin name used in botany rather than the everyday name

Surface Forms

Brassica oleracea italica singular
Brassica oleracea italica plural

Morphology

Brassica + oleracea + italica

Although 'Brassica' names a genus that includes cabbages and broccoli, the full Latin binomial includes the epithets 'oleracea' and 'italica', which are not meaningful to a B1 learner and do not transparently signal 'broccoli'. Botanical Latin names are technical lexical items rather than compositional everyday phrases, so the specific species meaning is unpredictable from the parts and would be treated as opaque by learners.

Etymology

Brassica oleracea italica comes from old Latin words: Brassica was the name for cabbages, oleracea means 'garden vegetable', and italica shows a link to Italy. So the name literally labels the plant we call 'broccoli'.