turnip

noun

tur·​nip ˈtər-nəp 

1

a

: either of two biennial herbs of the mustard family with thick edible roots:

(1)

: one (Brassica rapa var. rapa) with globular often flattened roots and leaves that are cooked as a vegetable

(2)

: rutabaga

b

: the root of a turnip

2

: a large pocket watch

Examples of turnip in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For high-quality ribs, catfish and turnip greens, go to the street’s Blues City Cafe. —Gary Stoller, Forbes.com, 24 June 2025

The restaurant’s golden radish pastries, also known as turnip puffs, are what truly captivated him. Delicate and flaky, the pastries filled with flavorful daikon radish were completely different from the cuisine he was used to eating in his native Mexico. —Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times, 21 Mar. 2025

An appetizer of radishes and turnips bagna cauda, presented not in the familiar way, as crudites with dip, but—surprisingly, delightfully—with the little root vegetables sliced in half and carved with fingertip-size divots, into which the warm, anchovy-rich bagna cauda has been poured. —Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2024

Add all the vegetables — potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, turnip, beans, peas, corn and tomatoes — then add the V8, the A.1. —Brian Bennett, New York Times, 2 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

tur-, perhaps from turn entry 1 (in the sense "shape into a rounded form by means of a lathe") + nip, reduced form of neep

Note: The word is first attested in the plural turnepez in a list of root vegetables appended to a collection of recipes (MS. British Library Sloane 1201; see Alicia Amherst, A History of Gardening in England, 3rd edition, New York, 1910, p. 68); the Middle English Dictionary dates it "about 1500." Compare parsnip.

First Known Use

1537, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

turnip

noun

tur·​nip ˈtər-nəp 

1

: either of two herbs related to cabbage with thick edible roots:

a

: one with usually white roundish roots and leaves that are cooked as a vegetable when young and tender

b

: rutabaga

2

: the root of a turnip