Word for Wednesday: Courgette or Zucchini?

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Our Word for Wednesday theme for November is vegetables.

A vegetable is a plant or part of a plant that is used for food. The word dates to the mid-fifteenth century when it meant 'non-animal life’ and was used to describe any type of plant. It has been used in reference to plants specifically grown for food since 1767.

So far we’ve looked at the words cabbage and potato. This week we’ve chosen two words that are used to refer to the same vegetable—courgette and zucchini. 

Both words describe a dark green cucumber-shaped squash that is typically eaten when small. The same vegetable left to mature is often called a marrow. 

Courgette is a loanword from French and is the diminutive of the word ‘courge’ which means ‘gourd’ or ‘marrow’. The word has been used in English since the 1930s and English-speaking countries that used the word today include the UK, Ireland, and South Africa. 

Zucchini is a diminutive of the Italian ‘zucca’ which means ‘pumpkin’ or ‘squash’ and perhaps comes from the Late Latin ‘cucutia’. The word has been used in English travel books about Italy since 1910 and in cookery books since 1915. English-speaking countries that use the word today include the USA, Canada, and Australia. 

Do you say courgette or zucchini? 
 


18 Nov 2020
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"Spellzone fits in beautifully with our Scope and Sequence of Phonological Awareness and Spelling. It also aligns perfectly with the four areas of spelling knowledge and uses the Brain, Ears, Eyes approach to learning spelling."
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Teacher, Australia