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rutabaga

American  
[roo-tuh-bay-guh, roo-tuh-bay-] / ˌru təˈbeɪ gə, ˈru təˌbeɪ- /

noun

  • rutabagas
    plural
  1. a brassicaceous plant, Brassica napobrassica, having a yellow- or white-fleshed, edible tuber.

  2. the edible tuber, a variety of turnip.


rutabaga British  
/ ˌruːtəˈbeɪɡə /

noun

  1. a Eurasian plant, Brassica napus (or B. napobrassica ), cultivated for its bulbous edible root, which is used as a vegetable and as cattle fodder: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)

  2. the root of this plant

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of rutabaga

1790–1800, < Swedish (dial.) rotabagge


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Vocabulary lists containing rutabaga

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The scientists gave the elephants small cubes of a vegetable called a rutabaga.

From NewsForKids.net ● Jun. 20, 2024

I'm partial to celeriac, rutabaga, turnip, radish and the like.

From Salon ● May 14, 2023

Turkey is deboned and served as a ballotine alongside such accompaniments as rutabaga mash, roasted Brussels sprouts and pumpkin cheesecake.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2021

“I like doing some season extension with row covers, and I’ve prepared my garden this year for fall harvests such as carrots, rutabaga, turnips and brassicas such as purple sprouting broccoli well into the winter.”

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2021

I could see that Mrs. Odom’s rutabaga trick with Howard’s brother Cotton wasn’t working too good because there were lots of drawings with colored markers along the bottom of the walls.

From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor

The defiantly down-home Busby struck a chord with a wide swath of viewers who didn’t know roots music from rutabagas.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

He enhanced the meat’s flavor with a rich whiskey-shallot-ostrich broth reduction, serving wilted watercress and mashed turnips and rutabagas on the side.

From Seattle Times ● May 23, 2023

Other root vegetables for fall harvest are turnips, carrots, rutabagas, and parsnips.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2021

“There’s no French person who doesn’t have the memory of Grandma or Grandpa talking about how we had nothing to eat except horrible rutabagas in 1943.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2020

Most of the meals Thula managed to put before her children consisted of thin stews made from parsnips, rutabagas, potatoes, and chipped beef.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

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