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cos lettuce

cos lettuce

2.3
A type of lettuce with long crisp dark green leaves
  • noun
  • /kɔs ˈlɛtɪs/
  • UK
translation icon : lechuga romana
  • I always use cos lettuce in my Caesar salads for its crisp texture.

Examples

  • Fresh cos lettuce was delivered to the restaurant every morning.

  • The cos lettuce was fresh and crunchy.

  • They planted rows of cos lettuce in their vegetable garden this spring.

  • I bought some cos lettuce for the salad.

  • I always use cos lettuce in my Caesar salads for its crisp texture.

  • Fresh cos lettuce was delivered to the restaurant every morning.

  • They planted rows of cos lettuce in their vegetable garden this spring.

Synonyms

romaine
vscos lettuce
7 2.4

A long leafy lettuce with dark green, crisp leaves used in salads

is an alternative common name used interchangeably for this variety
romaine lettuce
vscos lettuce
3 2.8

A long, crisp vegetable with dark green leaves used in salads

is the botanical variety label focusing on leaf and head shape instead
cos
vscos lettuce
  • UK
4.5

A lettuce with long crisp dark green leaves used in salads

is the longer named form rather than the short traditional name
Lactuca sativa longifolia
vscos lettuce
  • Specialized
4.6

A lettuce with long dark green spoon-shaped leaves often used in salads

is the everyday name used in cooking and shops rather than scientific term

Surface Forms

cos lettuce singular
cos lettuces plural

Morphology

cos + lettuce

The meaning 'a variety of lettuce' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'cos' (a named variety/type) with 'lettuce' (the vegetable), following the common noun-modifier + head-noun pattern. This compositional structure is cross-linguistically familiar (e.g., 'romaine lettuce' / 'lechuga romana'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Cos lettuce may come from the Greek island Cos, where this long, crisp lettuce was grown and sent to other places, so people began to call the vegetable by the island's name. That's why cos lettuce now means the long, crunchy 'romaine' lettuce used in salads.