eggplant

noun

egg·​plant ˈeg-ˌplant 

ˈāg-

1

a

: a widely cultivated perennial Asian herb (Solanum melongena) of the nightshade family yielding edible fruit

b

: the usually smooth ovoid typically blackish-purple or white fruit of the eggplant

2

: a dark grayish or blackish purple

Examples of eggplant in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Sweet beet-tahini dip gets a spicy, fragrant twist with serrano peppers and garlic, while the traditional baba ghanouj adds warm roasted tomato salsa to its eggplant-tahini base. —Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 7 Dec. 2025

Serving all manner of delicacies, from mouth-numbing Chongqing chicken to a sticky-sweet eggplant stir fry, Asian Snack has since become a culinary touchstone for me as well. —Bradley Hohulin, IndyStar, 5 Dec. 2025

Stir in capers, olives, vinegar, sugar and reserved eggplant. —Faye Levy, Oc Register, 3 Dec. 2025

In this show the palette shifted from the artist’s familiar Pepto-Bismol pink to slightly more somber shades, of saffron, eggplant, and rose; the colors had a touch of Bob Thompson about them, blocky flat shapes cohering into apparitions. —Helen Molesworth, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1767, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing eggplant

• Japanese eggplant

Rhymes for eggplant

• decant
• descant
• enchant
• explant
• implant
• preplant
• recant
• replant
• secant
• supplant
• transplant
• ant

Kids Definition

eggplant

noun

egg·​plant -ˌplant 

1

: a widely cultivated herb that is related to the potato and yields edible fruit

2

: the usually glossy blackish purple egg-shaped fruit of an eggplant