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): /əˈspɛɹ.ə.ɡəs/, /əˈspæɹ.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 (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
• 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
• 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)
• Venetian: 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 (asuparagasu)
• Korean: 아스파라거스 (aseuparageoseu)
• Latin: asparagus m, corruda f
• Macedonian: аспара́гус m (asparágus), шпа́ргла f (špárgla)
• Maori: apareka, parakati, pikopiko Pākehā
• 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) 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.

Case	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
• Venetian: 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

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin asparagus, from Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos). Doublet of szparag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /as.paˈra.ɡus/

• Audio

  (file)

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

Noun

asparagus m inan or asparagus m animal

1. asparagus

   Synonym: szparag

Declension

Declension of asparagus

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

or:

Declension of asparagus

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

Related terms

adjective

• asparaginowy

 

nouns

• asparagina
• asparaginaza

 

Further reading

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French asparagus.

Noun

asparagus m (plural asparaguși)

1. asparagus

Declension

Declension of asparagus

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) asparagus	asparagusul	(niște) asparaguși	asparagușii
genitive/dative	(unui) asparagus	asparagusului	(unor) asparaguși	asparagușilor
vocative	asparagusule		asparagușilor