Brussels sprout

Meaning

Noun

• The green vegetable Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera (variety), a cabbage variety native to Belgium.

Origin

• Recorded since 1748. Named after Brussels, where they were cultivated in the current form perhaps as early as the
• sprout is from Old English -sprutan (in asprutan; cognate with Old Saxon sprutan, Old Frisian spruta, Middle Dutch spruten, modern Dutch spruit ("sprout; Brussels sprout"), Old High German spriozan, German sprießen ("to sprout"), from Proto-Germanic *spreutaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sper- ("to strew").