radish
Pluralradishes
- 1The edible root of a garden plant, sharp and eaten raw in some varieties but milder and cooked in others.
He grated fresh radish over the rice bowl for a peppery kick.
In many cuisines, radish is pickled to balance rich, fatty dishes.
Note
In the kitchen the word shifts with the portion. Sliced, grated or served as a side, it is a mass noun: Mary Cole in 1791 tells readers to "eat radish, garlic, spices". A single root pulled from the ground is a radish, as in Mo Yan's Radish (2015). Its sharpness has long been noticed, too: Cole groups it with foods that are "heating".
- 2A plant of the cabbage family, Raphanus sativus, grown for its edible root.
Farmers sow radish in early spring for a quick first harvest.
The radish in our plot bolted to seed during the heat wave.
Note
A name that simply means "root": Old English rǣdiċ came from Latin rādīcem, "root of a plant; radish", and later spellings were nudged by Anglo-Norman radich and Middle French radice. English borrowed the same Latin word a second time, unchanged, as radix. As a crop the word works as both a count and a mass noun: Robert Sharrock in 1659 sows "Radishes and Carrots" in one bed and "Onions or Radish" in another.
- 3Any of various other root plants of the genus Raphanus or the wider mustard family.
Wild radish, a roadside relative, produces tough roots unfit for the table.
Foragers sometimes mistake wild radish for the cultivated garden variety.
Note
This sense almost never stands alone. It takes a qualifier naming the relative: wild radish, sea radish, rat-tail radish. Some of these defy the name's meaning of "root" told under the garden plant. J. R. Jackson in 1866 found the rat-tail radish, Raphanus caudatus, a novelty because its edible part is the seed-vessel, not the root. Wild radish, Raphanus raphanistrum, is the weedy cousin of the cultivated crop.
Practice
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Origin
The word comes from Middle English radiche, from Old English rǣdiċ, from Proto-West Germanic *rādik, which was borrowed from Latin rādīcem ('root of a plant; radish'). It was later influenced by Anglo-Norman radich and Middle French radice, borrowed from Italian radice, which came from the same Latin source. It is a doublet of radix.