turnip

turnip

English

Turnips

Etymology

From Middle English turnepe, probably from turn + Middle English nepe, from Old English nǣp, from Latin nāpus.[1] The component turn may be due to the round shape of the plant as though turned on a lathe, or because it must be turned and twisted to be harvested. Cognate to neep. See also parsnip.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜː.nɪp/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɝ.nɪp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

turnip (plural turnips)

1. The white root of a yellow-flowered plant, Brassica rapa, grown as a vegetable and as fodder for cattle.
2. (Scotland, Ireland, Northern England, Cornwall, Atlantic Canada) The yellow root of a related plant, the swede or Brassica napus.
3. (Hong Kong) The white root of Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also known as a daikon.[2]
4. (dated) A large, heavy pocket watch, so called because its profile resembled the vegetable.
5. (slang) A fool or simpleton.
   • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 33:

     "Dost thou not believe, thou twittering turnip?"

Synonyms

• (Brassica rapa): summer turnip, white turnip (Cornwall, Scotland)
• (Brassica napus): rutabaga (North America), swede (Ireland, Northern England, Scotland), tumshie (Scotland)
• (Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus): see daikon

Derived terms

• fall off the turnip truck
• Swedish turnip (Brassica napus)
• turnip watch
• turnip flea beetle (Phyllotreta undulata)
• turnip fly (Delia radicum)
• turnipy
• Turnip yellow mosaic virus

Descendants

• → German: Turnip
• → Irish: tornapa
• → Russian: турнепс (turneps)

Translations

white root of Brassica rapa

Albanian: rrikë (sq) f Arabic: لِفْت‎ m (lift) Egyptian Arabic: لفت‎ (lift) Hijazi Arabic: لِفْت‎ (lift) Moroccan Arabic: لفت‎ m (laft) Aragonese: napo m Armenian: շաղգամ (hy) (šałgam) Azerbaijani: şalğam Bashkir: шалҡан (şalqan) Belarusian: рэ́па f (répa), рэ́пка f (répka) (colloquial) Bengali: শালগম (bn) (śalôgômô) Bulgarian: ря́па f (rjápa) Burmese: မုန်လာဉဝါ (munla-nya.wa) Catalan: nap (ca) m Cherokee: ᏓᏈᏌᏂ (daquisani) Chinese: Mandarin: 蕪菁／芜菁 (zh) (wújīng) Chuvash: ҫарӑк (śarăk) Czech: vodnice f Danish: majroe c Dutch: raap (nl) m, knolraap (nl) m Esperanto: rapo (eo) Estonian: naeris Faroese: mairót f, hvítarót f Finnish: nauris (fi) (food varieties); rehunauris, turnipsi (fi) (fodder varieties) Franco-Provençal: râva f French: navet (fr) m Friulian: râf m, râv m, raùç Galician: nabo (gl) m Georgian: ბოლოკი (ka) (boloḳi), თალგამი (talgami) German: Speiserübe f; Mairübe f, Teltower Rübchen n, Herbstrübe f, Wasserrübe f, Stoppelrübe f, Weiße Rübe f, Bayrische Rübe f (specific varieties of turnip); Rübsen (de) m, Rübsamen m (all varieties of Brassica rapa) Alemannic German: Rääbe f Greek: γογγύλι (el) n (gongýli) Ancient: γογγυλίς f (gongulís) Hebrew: לֶפֶת‎ (he) f (lefet) Hindi: शलजम (hi) m (śaljam), शलगम (hi) m (śalgam) Hungarian: fehérrépa (hu), tarlórépa (hu) Icelandic: næpa (is) f Ido: napo (io) Irish: tornapa m Italian: rapa (it) f Japanese: 蕪 (ja) (かぶ, kabu), 蕪菜 (かぶな, kabuna), 菘 (ja) (すずな, suzuna) Kashmiri: گۄگٕج‎ f (gọgụj) Kazakh: шалқан (şalqan) Komi-Zyrian: сёркни (sʹorknʹi) Korean: 순무 (sunmu) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: شێلِم‎ (ku) (şêlim) Northern Kurdish: şêlim (ku) Southern Kurdish: شەلەم‎ (şelem) Kyrgyz: шалкан (ky) (şalkan), шалгам (ky) (şalgam) Lao: ຫົວຜັກເທີນິຟ (hūa phak thœ̄ nip) Latin: nāpus m, rāpum n Latvian: rācenis (lv) m Ligurian: rava f Lithuanian: ropė f Low German: Rööv f Macedonian: ре́па f (répa), ре́пка f (répka) Malagasy: nave (mg), anambe (mg) Maltese: ġidra f Maori: kōrau, tōnapi Mari: Eastern Mari: реве (reve) Western Mari: ревӹ (revÿ) Mongolian: манжин (mn) (manžin) Navajo: niłtsínii bikétłʼóól dijoolí Norman: navet m Norwegian: Bokmål: nepe (no) m or f Nynorsk: nepe f Occitan: nap (oc) m Old English: nǣp m Ottoman Turkish: شلغم‎ (şalğam) Persian: شلغم‎ (fa) (šalğam) Piedmontese: rava f Plautdietsch: Reew f Polish: rzepa (pl) f Portuguese: nabo (pt) m Punjabi: ਗੋਂਗਲੂ (goṅglū), ਸ਼ਲਗਮ m (śalgam) Romanian: navetă (ro) f, nap (ro) m Russian: ре́па (ru) f (répa), ре́пка (ru) f (répka) (colloquial), турне́пс (ru) m (turnéps) Scottish Gaelic: snèap f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: репа f Roman: repa (sh) f Sicilian: rapa f Sinhalese: එළවලු වර්ගයක් (eḷawalu wargayak), ටර්නිප් (ṭarnip) Slovak: repa (sk) f, vodnica f Slovene: repa (sl) f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: rěpa f Spanish: nabo (es) m Swedish: majrova c, rova (sv) c Tagalog: pulang singkamas, puting singkamas Tajik: шалғам (šalġam) Thai: หัวผักกาด (th) (hŭa pàk gàat) Tibetan: ཉུང་མ (nyung ma) Turkish: şalgam (tr) Turkmen: şalgam Udmurt: сяртчы (sjartćy) Ukrainian: рі́па (uk) f (rípa), рі́пка f (rípka) (colloquial) Urdu: شلجم‎ m (śaljam) Uzbek: sholgʻom (uz) Venetian: rava (vec) f Vietnamese: củ cải (vi), cây củ cải Volapük: navät (vo) Walloon: navea (wa) m Welsh: meipen (cy) f (North), erfinen (cy) f (South)

yellow root of Brassica napus — see rutabaga

The white root of Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus — see daikon

large, head pocket watch

Finnish: taskunauris (fi) German: Zwiebel (de) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: (please verify) şêlim (ku) f, (please verify) silka spî (ku) f, (please verify) tar (ku) f, (please verify) şelxem (ku) f Maltese: (please verify) ġidra f Neapolitan: (please verify) ràpa, (please verify) rapésta Persian: (please verify) شلغم‎ (fa) (šalğam) Urdu: (please verify) شلغم‎ (ur) (šalġam)

See also

• rutabaga
• swede
• turnip greens

Verb

turnip (third-person singular simple present turnips, present participle turniping or turnipping, simple past and past participle turniped or turnipped)

1. (transitive) To plant with turnips.
   • 1803, Agricultural Magazine (volume 9, page 32)

     This identical field has been turniped before, and to good account, in a favourable winter.

2. (transitive) To feed or graze (livestock) on turnips.
   • 1869, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases (page 328)

     The Leicesters and half-breds are purchased by farmers who keep no breeding stock: they are well turniped during the winter, and clipped and fattened in the following season.

   • 1898, John Wrightson, Sheep: Breeds and Management, page 86:

     This system of turniping is found to encourage the growth and muscular development of young stock.

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “turnip”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
2. Patrick J. Cummings, Hans-Georg Wolf (2011) A Dictionary of Hong Kong English: Words from the Fragrant Harbor, Hong Kong University Press, →ISBN, page 178

Anagrams

• Turpin, turpin