cole

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /koʊl/ UK /kəʊl/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like coll /ɑ/ vs /oʊ/

Meanings

1

noun
any of various brassica plants such as cabbage, kale, or rape

The fields were planted with cole for winter fodder.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · any of various brassica... cabbage kale rape brassicacolewort

Word family

Derived forms coleslaw

Related forms colewortcauliflower kale

Simplified etymology

Cole, an Old English word for “cabbage,” ultimately derives from Latin caulis, “cabbage.” It influenced early English forms of cauliflower, including cole-flory.

Etymology

From Old English cāl, cāwel 'cabbage', from Latin caulis 'stem, cabbage', from Proto-Indo-European *kawl- 'hollow stalk'.

cāl Old English caulis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# cole

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /koʊl/
**IPA (UK):** /kəʊl/

## Meanings
1. any of various brassica plants such as cabbage, kale, or rape

## Examples
- The fields were planted with cole for winter fodder.

## Synonyms
- cabbage
- kale
- rape
- brassica
- colewort

## Derived Forms
- coleslaw

## Related Forms
- colewort
- cauliflower
- kale

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: cāl
- Root: caulis

## Etymology
From Old English cāl, cāwel 'cabbage', from Latin caulis 'stem, cabbage', from Proto-Indo-European *kawl- 'hollow stalk'.

## AI Etymology
Cole comes from Old English cāl, cāwel 'cabbage', from Latin caulis 'stem, cabbage', from Proto-Indo-European *kawl- 'hollow stalk'. The historical trail runs through cāl in Old English and caulis in Latin. Used as a noun, cole now means "any of various brassica plants such as cabbage, kale, or rape", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as coleslaw and related forms such as colewort, cauliflower, and kale. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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