Standard Lemma guide

turnip

noun · verb · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australian, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtɜːnɪp/
  • British, Southern, Standard: /ˈtəːnɪp/
  • US: /ˈtɝ.nɪp/
  • US: /ˈtɝ.nəp/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Scotland: /ˈtʌɾnɪp/
  • New-Zealand: /ˈtøːnəp/
  • Wales: /ˈtøːnɪp/
  • /ˈteːnɪp/ Liverpool, fair–fur merger
  • /ˈtɛːnɪp/ Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
  • CMU ARPABET: T ER1 N AH0 P Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The white root of a yellow-flowered plant, Brassica rapa, grown as a vegetable and as fodder for cattle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The yellow root of a related plant, the swede or Brassica napus.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Atlantic-Canada, Cornwall, Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland

Qualifier: Manitoba

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The white root of Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also known as a daikon.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Hong-Kong

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The root of the yam bean, Pachyrhizus erosus; jicama.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Malaysia, Singapore, broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Clipping of turnip watch

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A fool or simpleton.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To plant with turnips.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To feed or graze (livestock) on turnips.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

root of any of several members of the mustard family

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: root vegetable, cruciferous vegetable

Narrower terms: white turnip, rutabaga, swede, swedish turnip, yellow turnip

10

noun

Meaning 10

widely cultivated plant having a large fleshy edible white or yellow root

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: white turnip, Brassica rapa

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: turnip plant

History

Etymology

From Middle English turnepe, probably from turn + Middle English nepe, from Old English nǣp, from Latin nāpus. The component turn may be due to the round shape of the plant as though turned on a lathe, or because it must be turned and twisted to be harvested. Cognate to neep. See also parsnip.

Across languages

Translations

150 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: rrikë — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Arabic: لِفْت (lift) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Arabic: لفت (lift) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Arabic: لِفْت (lift) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Arabic: لفت (laft) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Arabic: لفت (lífet) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Aragonese: napo — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Armenian: շաղգամ (šaġgam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Azerbaijani: şalğam — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Bashkir: шалҡан (şalqan) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Belarusian: рэ́па (répa) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Belarusian: рэ́пка (répka) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Bengali: শালগম (śalogom) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Bhojpuri: शलजम (śaləjam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Bulgarian: ря́па (rjápa) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Burmese: မုန်လာဉဝါ (munla-nya.wa) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Catalan: nap — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Cherokee: ᏓᏈᏌᏂ (daquisani) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蕪菁 /芜菁 (wújīng) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Chuvash: ҫарӑк (śarăk) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Cornish: ervin — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Cornish: ervinen — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Cornish: routabaga — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Cornish: turnypen — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Czech: vodnice — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Danish: majroe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Dutch: raap — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Dutch: knolraap — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Esperanto: rapo — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Estonian: naeris — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Faroese: mairót — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Faroese: hvítarót — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Finnish: nauris — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Finnish: rehunauris — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Finnish: turnipsi — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Franco-Provençal: râva — white root of Brassica rapa
  • French: navet — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Friulian: râf — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Friulian: râv — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Friulian: raùç — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Galician: nabo — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Georgian: ბოლოკი (boloḳi) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Georgian: თალგამი (talgami) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Speiserübe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Mairübe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Teltower Rübchen — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Herbstrübe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Wasserrübe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Stoppelrübe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Weiße Rübe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Bayrische Rübe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Rübsen — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Rübsamen — white root of Brassica rapa
  • German: Rääbe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Greek: γογγύλι (gongýli) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Ancient Greek: γογγυλίς (gongulís) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Hebrew: לֶפֶת (léfet) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Hindi: शलजम (śaljam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Hindi: शलगम (śalgam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Hungarian: fehérrépa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Hungarian: tarlórépa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Icelandic: næpa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Ido: napo — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Ingrian: nagris — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Ingrian: turnus — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Irish: tornapa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Italian: rapa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Japanese: 蕪 (kabu) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Japanese: 蕪菜 (kabuna) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Japanese: 菘 (suzuna) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Kashmiri: گۄگٕج (gọgụj) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Kazakh: шалқан (şalqan) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Komi-Zyrian: сёркни (śorkńi) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Korean: 순무 (sunmu) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Central Kurdish: شێلِم (şêlim) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Northern Kurdish: şêlim — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Southern Kurdish: شەلەم (şelem) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Kyrgyz: шалкан (şalkan) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Kyrgyz: шалгам (şalgam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Lao: ຫົວຜັກເທີນິຟ (hūa phak thœ̄ nip) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Latin: nāpus — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Latin: rāpum — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Latvian: rācenis — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Ligurian: rava — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Lithuanian: ropė — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Low German: Rööv — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Macedonian: ре́па (répa) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Macedonian: ре́пка (répka) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Malagasy: nave — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Malagasy: anambe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Maltese: ġidra — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Māori: kōrau — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Māori: tōnapi — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Eastern Mari: реве (reve) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Western Mari: ревӹ (revÿ) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Mongolian: манжин (manžin) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Navajo: niłtsínii bikétłʼóól dijoolí — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Norman: navet — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Norwegian Bokmål: nepe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: nepe — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Occitan: nap — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Old English: nǣp — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Persian: شلغم (šalġam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Piedmontese: rava — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Plautdietsch: Reew — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Polish: rzepa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Portuguese: nabo — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Punjabi: ਗੋਂਗਲੂ (goṅglū) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Punjabi: ਸ਼ਲਗਮ (śalgam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Romanian: navetă — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Romanian: nap — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Russian: ре́па (répa) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Russian: ре́пка (répka) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Russian: турне́пс (turnéps) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Scottish Gaelic: snèap — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Serbo-Croatian: репа — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Serbo-Croatian: repa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Sicilian: rapa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Sinhalese: එළවලු වර්ගයක් (eḷawalu wargayak) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Sinhalese: ටර්නිප් (ṭarnip) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Slovak: repa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Slovak: vodnica — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Slovene: repa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Lower Sorbian: rěpa — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Spanish: nabo — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Spanish: grelo — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Swedish: majrova — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Swedish: rova — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Tagalog: pulang singkamas — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Tagalog: puting singkamas — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Tajik: шалғам (šalġam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Thai: หัวผักกาด (hŭa pàk gàat) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Tibetan: ཉུང་མ (nyung ma) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Turkish: şalgam — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Ottoman Turkish: شلغم (şalğam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Turkmen: şalgam — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Udmurt: сяртчы (śartćy) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Ukrainian: рі́па (rípa) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Ukrainian: рі́пка (rípka) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Urdu: شلجم (śaljam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Urdu: شلغم (śalġam) — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Uzbek: sholgʻom — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Venetan: rava — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Vietnamese: củ cải — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Vietnamese: cây củ cải — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Volapük: navät — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Walloon: navea — white root of Brassica rapa
  • Finnish: taskunauris — large, head pocket watch
  • German: Zwiebel — large, head pocket watch
  • Polish: cebula — large, head pocket watch
Real reading context

turnip in complete knowledge articles