Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The fruit of the egg-plant, Solanum Melongena; the brinjal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun UK an Asian plant, Solanum melongena, cultivated for its edible purple, green, or white ovoid fruit
  • noun UK the fruit of this plant, eaten as a vegetable
  • noun a dark purple colour; eggplant.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun egg-shaped vegetable having a shiny skin typically dark purple but occasionally white or yellow
  • noun hairy upright herb native to southeastern Asia but widely cultivated for its large glossy edible fruit commonly used as a vegetable

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Catalan albergínia, albergina, from Arabic al-bāḏinjān, the eggplant, from Persian bādenjān, bādengān, from a Middle Indic source akin to Pali vātiṅgaṇa, and Sanskrit bhaṇṭākī, ultimately of non-Indo-European origin; akin to Tamil vaḷutalai, vaḷutuṇai .]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from French aubergine, from Catalan albergínia, from Arabic الباذِنْجان (al-baðinjān), the eggplant, from Persian بادنگان (bâdengân), from باتنگان (bâtengân), from Sanskrit वातिगगम (vātiga-gama, "eggplant").

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Examples

  • Food Rocks was a genuinely crappy show ( "The Boogie Woogie Bagel Bakery Boy" was the highlight, if you can believe it), but owning a genuine Epcot animatronic aubergine is a pretty tempting proposition.

    Boing Boing: January 29, 2006 - February 4, 2006 Archives 2006

  • I love the eggplant aka aubergine addition and anchovy dressing :

    A Summer Salad Annemarie 2009

  • My favourite vegetables are aubergine, which is great, sliced lengthways and brushed with marinade, as is courgette.

    Visualising summer Jes 2009

  • I wanted aubergine, which is a rich, plum-esque color.

    qdiosa Diary Entry qdiosa 2007

  • "Knowing that an aubergine is the same as an eggplant, or that drumsticks equal chicken legs, simply gives better results."

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • In Europe it is called aubergine, the word also deriving from Sanskrit, via Catalan, Arabic and Persian.

    The Berkeley Daily Planet, The East Bay's Independent Newspaper By Shirley Barker 2010

  • Using the same trick in the Gimp we can see that the aubergine is a dark shade of the hue at 323 degrees, exactly 60 degrees apart from the orange.

    Planet Ubuntu Alan Bell 2010

  • And I had the most amazing eggplant (called aubergine) dish the other night.

    TravelPod.com Recent Updates 2008

  • It is not kosher. eggplant (solanum melongena) - related to deadly nightshade (though not nearly as dangerous) - aka aubergine, brinjal, needs treatment to get rid of bitterness which is why recipes using it often call for baking it, grilling it or letting it sit, salted prior to actual cooking; disgustingly yummy in dips and curries, the Japanese variety is small, the SE Asian variety tiny, and the US variety so abundantly large you almost die of horror when it shrinks as you prepare it.

    unknown title 2009

  • LinuxPlanet goes into more detail about the changes coming to the Ubuntu desktop, reporting that the traditionally brown-colored interface will be replaced with a "aubergine" purplish look.

    Tom's hardware UK 2010

Comments

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  • Aubergine, also known as an eggplant, is generally blackish purple, like the skin of the eggplant.

    January 7, 2007

  • awebergine when grilled with brie and madeira

    April 10, 2008