Turnip (terminology)
 | This article's factual accuracy is disputed. (June 2019) |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2019) |
The word "turnip" can refer to any of the following four vegetables:
- Turnip (white turnip, summer turnip, Brassica rapa rapa)
- Rutabaga (yellow turnip, Brassica napus or B. napobrassica)
- Jícama (Mexican turnip, yam bean, sweet turnip, Pachyrhizus erosus)
- Daikon (white radish, mooli, Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus)
Regional differences in terminology
 | This section is missing information about the regional nomenclatures of these four vegetables. (March 2021) |
Regional differences in terminology are summarised in the table below.
| Scientific name |  Brassica rapa rapa |
 Brassica napus or B. napobrassica |
 Pachyrhizus |
 Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern England, South Yorkshire, most Commonwealth countries | turnip | swede (from "swedish turnip") | yam | mooli |
| Scotland, northern England, Ireland, Isle of Man | white turnip | turnip, yellow turnip or "neep" | yam | mooli |
| Cornwall | turnip | turnip | mooli | |
| United States | turnip | rutabaga or yellow turnip | jicama | daikon |
| Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines | turnip | chai tow, chai tau (Hokkien and Teochew: 菜頭) | ||
| Hong Kong | turnip;[1] lobak, lo pak (Cantonese: 蘿蔔) | |||
| also called | white turnip or summer turnip | yellow turnip or winter turnip | sweet turnip |
Brassica napus and B. napobrassica are mostly called swedes (a shortening of Swedish turnip) in England, especially in the South, and in most dialects of the Commonwealth. Rutabaga, from the Swedish rotabagga, for "root bag" is mostly used in North America, in the United States and some parts of Canada. The rutabaga or swede differs from the turnip (Brassica rapa) in that it is typically larger and yellow-orange rather than white. In the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada, the yellow-fleshed variety are referred to as "turnips", whilst the white-fleshed variety are called "white turnips".[citation needed]
However, in some dialects of British English the two vegetables have overlapping or reversed names: in the north of England and Scotland, the larger, yellow variety may be called "yellow turnip" or "neep", while the smaller white variety are called "swede" or "white turnip". The yellow-fleshed type are known as "narkies" in Sunderland, and in past years used to be hollowed out and used as lanterns at Halloween, [2] as was the case in Scotland, before the acceptance of the American-style Halloween pumpkin. In the Isle of Man, Turnips are still used for Halloween (‘Hop Tu Naa’) lanterns, in place of pumpkins.
Other vegetables
Kohlrabi is also called German turnip, turnip cabbage or cabbage turnip,[3] although there the stem, not the root, is the enlarged part.
References
- ^ Cummings, Patrick J., and Hans-Georg Wolf. A Dictionary of Hong Kong English: Words from the Fragrant Harbor (p. 178). 1st ed., Hong Kong University Press, 2011.
- ^ Smillie, Susan (25 January 2010). "Are 'neeps' swedes or turnips?". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ dict.leo.org accessed 24-May-2009 12:40 PM CEST