| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| broccoli |
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| SYLLABICATION: | broc·co·li |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  br k  -l |
| NOUN: | 1. A vegetable (Brassica oleracea var. italica) in the mustard family, closely related to the cauliflower and having dense clusters of numerous green flower buds. 2. The flower clusters of this plant, eaten as a vegetable before the flower buds open. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Italian, pl. of broccolo, flowering sprout of a turnip, diminutive of brocco, shoot, sprout, from Vulgar Latin *brocca, spike. See brocade.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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