broccoli

[ brok-uh-lee, brok-lee ]

noun

1. a form of a cultivated cruciferous plant, Brassica oleracea botrytis, whose leafy stalks and clusters of usually green buds are eaten as a vegetable.

broccoli

/ ˈbrɒkəlɪ /

noun

1. a cultivated variety of cabbage, Brassica oleracea italica , having branched greenish flower heads
2. the flower head of this plant, eaten as a vegetable before the buds have opened
3. a variety of this plant that does not form a head, whose stalks are eaten as a vegetable

Word History and Origins

Origin of broccoli¹

1690–1700; < Italian, plural of broccolo, equivalent to brocc ( o ) sprout (< Late Latin; broach ) + -olo diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of broccoli¹

C17: from Italian, plural of broccolo a little sprout, from brocco sprout, spike; see brocade

Example Sentences

However, the term is also applied to members of Brassica rapa, such napa cabbage, and can be used to encompass a wider range of cruciferous vegetables — including broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and collard greens.

From Washington Post

A well salted and perfectly cooked vegetable or a crisped piece of chicken is easier to transform into something new than, say, an enormous pot of cream of broccoli soup or a triple recipe of chicken salad.

From Eater

Sainsbury said it’s exploring alternatives to trucks to keep its stores stocked with lettuce, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruits from the Continent.

From Fortune

Together with two adjacent counties to the south, the area around Salinas produces the vast majority of lettuce grown in the US during the summer months, along with most of the cauliflower, celery, and broccoli, and a good share of the berries.

From MIT Technology Review

I use my hands to massage it into Brussels sprouts, roughly chopped carrots, and broccoli florets.

From Eater

These pathetic folks need to accept that “jazz has replaced classical music as the dreaded incarnation of eat-your-broccoli art.”

From The Daily Beast

Once inside, he removes a cup of broccoli-cheddar soup from his bag and goes to heat it up.

From The Daily Beast

How is life worth living without spinach, tender asparagus, or purple-sprouting broccoli?

From The Daily Beast

I lived for my packages from home of eggplants and asparagus and tomatoes and broccoli and elephant garlic.

From The Daily Beast

I was lucky enough to have a family that brought broccoli; birdman hunted the local seagulls.

From The Daily Beast

The special merit of Broccoli is its adaptability for late summer planting and its rapid growth in the late fall.

From Project Gutenberg

Broccoli and savoys taste better when a little bacon is boiled with them.

From Project Gutenberg

Boil the greens (Scotch kale, broccoli tops, etc.) in the usual way.

From Project Gutenberg

The flat fields are devoted to the cultivation of broccoli, and early vegetables, fruits, and flowers for the London market.

From Project Gutenberg

Watering may save the crop, but the finest pieces of Broccoli are those that are secured without any watering whatever.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• sauerkraut

About This Word

What else does broccoli mean?

Content warning: this article references illicit drugs.

When not referring to the actual vegetable, broccoli is slang for “marijuana.”

Where does broccoli come from?

The slang broccoli, meaning “marijuana,” is credited to the “Father of Slang” rapper E-40. On the music and lyrics website Genius, E-40 included a verified annotation on the page for his 1996 “Practice Lookin’ Hard.” According to him, he invented broccoli in 1993:

“I started calling medicinal [marijuana] ‘broccoli’ because it’s green and bushy. I was looking at some medical back in 1993 with my producer Studio Ton and we was like, ‘Man, look at it—it looks exactly like broccoli.’ I call it ‘lettuce’ too.”

E-40 also released a 1998 song simply titled “Broccoli” that made the word’s sub-meaning even more obvious. In the 2010s, other rappers helped popularize the slang, including Kodak Black, Lil Yachty, and D.R.A.M.

How is broccoli used in real life?

Broccoli (the slang and substance) is very popular in hip-hop. Several dozen songs use broccoli in their title and many, many more use it in the lyrics.

I'm a healthy kid I smoke broccoli

— Lil pump (@lilpump) October 13, 2016

From hip-hop, broccoli has spread as a more mainstream slang term for “marijuana,” sometimes alongside the broccoli emoji, 🥦, on social media.

Your first look at "Broccoli," the magazine for women who love weed https://t.co/NEcDHDoHv6 pic.twitter.com/PwQLuhnChT

— VICE Life (@ViceLife) November 13, 2017

I daydreamed about broccoli today, not weed like actual broccoli

— #1 loser (@mustygrrl) November 19, 2018

Lungs on broccoli 🍃⛽️

— Trey 🏁 (@HussleMan_Trey) December 6, 2018

More examples of broccoli:

“On the page, marijuana is advertised as ‘broccoli’ and LSD as ‘light salad dressing’, while ‘capsicum’ is used to describe MDMA capsules and ‘coconuts’ is code for cocaine.”
—Max Margan & Daniel Piotrowski, Daily Mail, April 2018

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.