celery

English

A stalk of celery

Alternative forms

Etymology

From French céleri, from Lombard selleri, a plural of Latin selīnum, from Ancient Greek σέλῑνον (sélīnon). Displaced English march (“celery, smallage”) and smallage (“wild celery”).

Pronunciation

Noun

celery (usually uncountable, plural celeries)

  2. A European herb (Apium graveolens) of the carrot family.
  4. (uncountable, vegetable) The stalks of this herb eaten as a vegetable.
    • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 58:
      In eighteenth century France celery soup was a means of whetting the amorous appetite.
  5. A yellow-green colour, like that of a celery.
    celery:  

Usage notes

celery is usually treated as a mass noun (so that *a celery or *celeries are not typically used), with the units referred to as a stalk (an individual petiole) or a bunch (a connected mass of stalks).

Derived terms

Translations

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