Vegetable ˈvedʒtəbl Late Noun Children Eat Fresh Root

• the children don't eat enough fresh vegetables.
• root vegetables (= for example carrots)
• a vegetable garden
• we grow our own vegetables.

vegetable

1. a plant or part of a plant that is eaten as food. Potatoes, beans and onions are all vegetables.
• COMPARE animal
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/animal_2
• The children don't eat enough fresh vegetables.
• root vegetables (= for example carrots)
• a vegetable garden
• We grow our own vegetables.
• a salad of raw vegetables
• organic vegetables
• a vegetable patch/plot
• vegetable soup
• vegetable matter (= plants in general)
2. a person who is physically alive but not capable of much mental or physical activity, for example because of an accident or illness
• Severe brain damage turned him into a vegetable.
3. a person who has a boring life
• Since losing my job I've been a vegetable.

Word Origin

• late Middle English (in the sense ‘growing as a plant’): from Old French, or from late Latin vegetabilis ‘animating’, from Latin vegetare, from vegetus ‘active’, from vegere ‘be active’. The current sense dates from the late 16th cent.