asparagus

See also: Asparagus

English

Bundles of green and white asparagus

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin asparagus, sparagus, from Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos), variant of ἀσφάραγος (aspháragos). Displaced Old English eorþnafola.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈspæɹ.ə.ɡəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈspæɹ.ə.ɡəs/, /əˈspɛɹ.ə.ɡəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

asparagus (plural asparagus or asparaguses or asparagusses or asparagi)

1. Any of various perennial plants of the genus Asparagus having leaflike stems, scalelike leaves, and small flowers.

   Synonyms: sparrowgrass, sparagus, sparagrass

2. The young shoots of Asparagus officinalis eaten as a vegetable.
3. A green colour, like that of an asparagus.

   asparagus:  

Derived terms

• asparagine
• asparagus bean
• asparagus bed
• asparagus beetle
• asparagus fern
• asparagus lettuce
• asparagus-like
• asparagus pea
• asparagus roll
• asparagus root
• aspartate
• aspartic acid
• poor man's asparagus
• sprue asparagus
• wild asparagus

 

Translations

asparagus plant, Asparagus officinalis

• Albanian: shpargull (sq) m
• Arabic: هِلْيُون m (hilyūn), هِلْيَوْن m (hilyawn)

  Egyptian Arabic: اسبراجوس m (esbaragus)

  Hijazi Arabic: هِلْيون m pl (hilyōn)

• Armenian: ծնեբեկ (hy) (cnebek)
• Asturian: espárragu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: qulançar
• Basque: esparrago, zainzuri
• Belarusian: спа́ржа f (spárža)
• Bulgarian: аспара́гус (bg) m (asparágus)
• Burmese: ကညွတ်ပင် (ka.nywatpang)
• Catalan: esparreguera f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蘆筍 / 芦笋 (zh) (lúsǔn)

• Czech: chřest (cs) m
• Dalmatian: spirač
• Danish: asparges (da) c
• Dutch: asperge (nl) f
• Esperanto: asparago (eo), asparagoj pl
• Estonian: harilik aspar
• Faroese: aspargus n
• Finnish: ruokaparsa (fi), parsa (fi)
• French: asperge (fr) f
• Friulian: sparg, sparc m
• Galician: espárrago (gl) m, esparragueira (gl) f
• Gallurese: isparau
• Georgian: სატაცური (saṭacuri)
• German: Spargel (de) m
• Greek: σπαράγγι (el) n (sparángi), ασπάραγος (aspáragos)

  Ancient: ἀσφάραγος m (aspháragos), ἀσπάραγος m (aspáragos)

• Hungarian: spárga (hu)
• Icelandic: spergill m
• Irish: lus súch m, lus súgach m, asparagas m, lus spreagtha m
• Italian: asparago (it) m
• Japanese: アスパラガス (ja) (asuparagasu)
• Korean: 아스파라거스 (aseuparageoseu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: maroje (ku), kiling (ku), kilig (ku), çavmark (ku)

• Lao: ໜໍ່ໄມ້ຟະລັ່ງ (nǭ mai fa lang)
• Latin: asparagus m, corruda f
• Latvian: sparģelis m
• Lithuanian: smidras m
• Macedonian: аспара́гус m (asparágus), шпа́ргла f (špárgla)
• Malay: akar parsi, sapersi, asparagus
• Maori: apareka, parakati
• Navajo: chʼałdą́ą́ʼ
• Norman: aspèrge f
• Northern Sami: aspárggus
• Northern Thai: ᩉ᩠ᨶᩬᩴ᩵ᨾᩱ᩶ᨺᩡᩁᩢ᩠᩵ᨦ
• Norwegian: asparges (no)
• Occitan: esparga
• Old English: eorþnafola m
• Ottoman Turkish: اسفراج (isfirac)
• Persian: مارچوبه (fa) (mârčube), مارگیاه (mârgiyâh), سپارک (sepârk)
• Plautdietsch: Sparjel m
• Polish: szparag (pl) m, asparagus (pl) m
• Portuguese: aspargo (pt) m (Brazil), espargo (pt) m (Portugal)
• Romanian: sparanghel (ro)
• Romansch: spargia, aspergia, sparglas, spargla, aspargia
• Russian: спа́ржа (ru) f (spárža)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: sparau

  Logudorese: sparau

• Sassarese: ipàramu
• Scottish Gaelic: creamh-na-muice-fiadhaich m, aspàrag f, lus-mòr m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вилина метла f, каленац m

  Roman: vilina metla f, kalenac m

• Sicilian: spàraciu (scn) m, spàriciu m
• Slovak: špargľa f
• Slovene: beluš (sl) m, špargelj (sl) m
• Spanish: espárrago (es) m
• Swedish: sparris (sv) c
• Tagalog: esparago
• Thai: หน่อไม้ฝรั่ง (th) (nɔ̀ɔ-máai-fà-ràng)
• Turkish: kuşkonmaz (tr)
• Ukrainian: спа́ржа f (spárža)
• Venetan: spàraxo m, sparexara f
• Vietnamese: măng tây (vi)
• Volapük: sparag (vo)
• Welsh: merllys m
• Xhosa: imvane, umvane

asparagus shoots (food)

• Arabic: هِلْيُون m (hilyūn)
• Armenian: ծնեբեկ (hy) (cnebek)
• Azerbaijani: qulançar
• Basque: zainzuri
• Belarusian: спа́ржа f (spárža)
• Breton: asperjezenn
• Bulgarian: аспе́ржа (bg) f (aspérža)
• Burmese: ကညွတ်ရိုး (ka.nywatrui:)
• Catalan: espàrrec (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蘆筍 / 芦笋 (lou⁴ seon²)

  Mandarin: 蘆筍 / 芦笋 (zh) (lúsǔn)

• Czech: chřest (cs) m
• Danish: asparges (da) c
• Dutch: asperge (nl) f
• Esperanto: asparago (eo), asparagoj pl
• Estonian: aspar
• Faroese: aspargus n
• Finnish: parsa (fi)
• French: asperge (fr) f
• Galician: espárrago (gl) m
• Gallurese: isparau
• Georgian: სატაცური (saṭacuri)
• German: Spargel (de) m
• Greek: σπαράγγι (el) n (sparángi)

  Ancient: ἀσφάραγος m (aspháragos), ἀσπάραγος m (aspáragos)

• Hindi: शतावर (hi) m (śatāvar), सतावर (hi) m (satāvar), शतावरी (hi) f (śatāvrī)
• Hungarian: spárga (hu)
• Icelandic: aspas (is) m, spergill m
• Irish: lus súch m, lus súgach m, asparagas m
• Italian: asparago (it) m
• Japanese: アスパラガス (ja) (asuparagasu)
• Korean: 아스파라거스 (aseuparageoseu)
• Latin: asparagus m, corruda f
• Macedonian: аспара́гус m (asparágus), шпа́ргла f (špárgla)
• Maori: apareka, parakati, pikopiko Pākehā, huatau
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хэрээн нүд (xereen nüd) , хэрээний нүд (xereenii nüd), аспарагус (asparagus) (common usage), лууны сахал (luuny saxal) (Inner Mongolia)

  Mongolian: ᠬᠡᠷᠢᠶᠡᠨ
  ᠨᠢᠳᠦ (keriyen nidü), ᠬᠡᠷᠢᠶᠡᠨ ᠦ
  ᠨᠢᠳᠦ (keriyen-ü nidü), ᠯᠣᠣ ᠶᠢᠨ
  ᠰᠠᠬᠠᠯ (loo-yin saqal)

• Navajo: chʼałdą́ą́ʼ, jádí nátʼoh
• Norman: aspèrge f
• Northern Sami: aspárggus
• Norwegian: asparges (no)
• Old English: eorþnafola m
• Plautdietsch: Sparjel m
• Polish: szparag (pl) m, asparagus (pl) m
• Portuguese: aspargo (pt) m, espargo (pt) m
• Romanian: sparanghel (ro) m
• Russian: спа́ржа (ru) f (spárža)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: sparau

  Logudorese: sparau

• Sassarese: ipàramu
• Scottish Gaelic: creamh-na-muice-fiadhaich m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вилина метла f, каленац m, шпарога

  Roman: vilina metla f, kalenac m, šparoga (sh)

• Slovak: špargľa f
• Slovene: beluš (sl), špargelj (sl) m
• Spanish: espárrago (es) m
• Swedish: sparris (sv) c
• Thai: หน่อไม้ฝรั่ง (th) (nɔ̀ɔ-máai-fà-ràng)
• Turkish: kuşkonmaz (tr)
• Ukrainian: спа́ржа f (spárža)
• Vietnamese: măng tây (vi)
• Volapük: sparag (vo)
• Welsh: asbaragws (cy) m pl
• Yiddish: ספּאַרזשע f (sparzhe)

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

• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} spraġ
• Sicilian: ^{(please verify)} spàraciu (scn) m
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} špargelj (sl) m

Further reading

• asparagus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Asparagus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• “asparagus”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Latin

Etymology

Also found in Medieval Latin. From Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos), variant of ἀσφάραγος (aspháragos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /asˈpa.ra.ɡus/, [äs̠ˈpäräɡʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /asˈpa.ra.ɡus/, [äsˈpäːräɡus]

Noun

asparagus m (genitive asparagī); second declension

1. asparagus; shoot, sprout-like asparagus, samphire
   • c. 160 BCE, Marcus Porcius Cato, De agri cultura‎^[1], archived from the original on 2022-04-03, chapter 161:

     Deinde fossulās facitō, quō rādīcēs asparagī dēmittās.

     Then make little ditches to drop the asparagus roots into.

   • 121 CE, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, “Divus Augustus”, in De Vita Caesarum, chapter 87:

     Cōtīdiānō sermōne quaedam frequenter et nōtābilius ūsurpāsse eum [Augustum], litterae ipsius autographae ostendunt, in quibus [...] ad exprimendam festīnātae reī vēlōcitātem, celerius quam asparagī cocuntur; [...]

     That in daily conversation he [Augustus] often and famously used certain [expressions], his own handwritten letters show; among these, [...] to express the speed of a thing done quickly, faster than asparaguses are cooked; [...]

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	asparagus	asparagī
genitive	asparagī	asparagōrum
dative	asparagō	asparagīs
accusative	asparagum	asparagōs
ablative	asparagō	asparagīs
vocative	asparage	asparagī

Descendants

• Albanian: shparg
• Catalan: espàrrec
• Dalmatian: spirač
• → English: asparagus
• French: asperge
• Friulian: sparc, sparg
• Galician: espárrago
• German: Spargel
• → Irish: asparagas
• Italian: asparago
• → Polish: szparag
• Occitan: esparga
• Portuguese: aspargo, espargo
• Romansch: spargia, aspergia
• Sardinian: sparàu, isparàu, ispàrau
• Sicilian: spàraciu, spàriciu
• Spanish: espárrago
• Venetan: spàraxo, sparexara

References

• “asparagus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “asparagus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• asparagus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Polish

asparagus

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin asparagus. Doublet of szparag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /as.paˈra.ɡus/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɡus
• Syllabification: as‧pa‧ra‧gus

Noun

asparagus m animal or m inan

1. common asparagus fern, asparagus grass, lace fern, climbing asparagus, ferny asparagus (Asparagus setaceus)

   Synonyms: szparag, szparag pierzasty

2. shoots of Asparagus setaceus

Declension

Declension of asparagus

	singular	plural
nominative	asparagus	asparagusy
genitive	asparagusa	asparagusów
dative	asparagusowi	asparagusom
accusative	asparagusa/asparagus	asparagusy
instrumental	asparagusem	asparagusami
locative	asparagusie	asparagusach
vocative	asparagusie	asparagusy

Related terms

adjectives

• asparaginowy

 

nouns

• asparagina
• asparaginaza

 

Further reading

• asparagus in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• asparagus in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• asparagus in PWN's encyclopedia

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French asparagus.

Noun

asparagus m (plural asparaguși)

1. asparagus

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	asparagus	asparagusul		asparaguși	asparagușii
genitive-dative	asparagus	asparagusului		asparaguși	asparagușilor
vocative	asparagusule			asparagușilor