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collard greens

collard greens

11 2.5
A leafy green vegetable with large dark leaves often cooked and eaten as a side
  • noun
  • /ˈkɒl.ərd ɡriːnz/
  • US
translation icon : berza
  • What did you expect—cornbread and collard greens three times a day?
  • cook collard greens
  • eat collard greens
  • fresh collard greens

Or you could do like fried chicken, greens, macaroni, sweet potatoes, cornbread, collard greens.

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Examples

Synonyms

kale
vscollard greens
43 2.4

A hardy green vegetable with curly leaves like cabbage

is the smooth large-leafed variety rather than the curly type
collard
vscollard greens
  • US
15 5.4

A leafy green like kale with large smooth leaves cooked as a vegetable

is used as the plural multiword name for the same vegetable
collards
vscollard greens
  • US
4.5

A leafy green vegetable with large smooth leaves often cooked

is the two-word plural name rather than the shorter single word
Brassica oleracea acephala
vscollard greens
  • Specialized
7.0

A hardy leafy vegetable like kale with thick curly leaves that do not form a head

is the common culinary name for the smooth-leaf form

How Tender

spinach
94 1.0
turnip greens
  • US
1 3.7
collard greens
  • US
11 2.5
kale
43 2.4

Surface Forms

collard greens singular

Morphology

collard + green

The meaning is directly compositional: 'collard' names a type of kale and 'greens' denotes leafy vegetables, so 'collard greens' straightforwardly refers to the edible leafy leaves of the collard plant. This follows a common English pattern (e.g., 'mustard greens', 'turnip greens') that is readily interpretable by learners who know both constituents, so the phrase is transparent.

Etymology

Collard greens may come from the old word collard, from 'cole' meaning 'cabbage', because these plants are like 'headless cabbages' with large flat leaves instead of a round head. That's why collard greens now means the leafy green vegetable people cook and eat.