# cucumber
## English
### Alternative forms

* cumber (colloquial)

### Etymology

From Middle English cucumer, cucumber, from Old French cocombre, ultimately from Latin cucumis, cucumerem (possibly through an Old Occitan intermediate). Probably of Pre-Italic substrate origin.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkjuːˌkʌmbər/
** Audio (US):(file)
** Homophone: Qcumber
* (South Asia, spelling pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkukumbə(ɾ)/
* (obsolete) IPA: /ˈkaʊˌkʌmbəɹ/

### Noun

cucumber (plural cucumbers)
* A vine in the gourd family, Cucumis sativus.
** 1767, A Lady [Hannah Glasse], The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Eaſy […] ‎, page 326:ASPARAGUS, cauliflowers, imperial Sileſia, royal and cabbage lettuces, burnet, purſlain, cucumbers, naſturtian flowers, peaſe and beans ſown in October, artichokes, ſcarlet ſtrawberries, and kidney beans.
* (vegetable) The edible fruit of this plant, having a green rind and crisp white flesh.
    Synonyms: (informal) cuke, (colloquial) cumber
** 1785, James Boswell, quoting Samuel Johnson, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnſon […] ‎, London: Henry Baldwin, page 356:[…] for it has been a common ſaying of phyſicians in England, that a cucumber ſhould be well ſliced, and dreſſed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.
** 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Publishing”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 14:"Why, pepper and salt your reasons!" cried Curl, forgetting to look at the door for a moment: "your pamphlet has talent; but talent is like a cucumber, nothing without the dressing. You must be more personal."
* A person who is calm and self-possessed.
** 1986, Linking Technology and Users, page 41:Just a few tips will help even the most anxious of us get a bit of control over the presentation of information and thus appear to be that "cool cucumber" in cognito!
** 1999, Mark Grantham, The Brewery, page 275:The guy's a real cucumber.
** 2002, Margaret Fisher, Putting on Mock Trials, page 29:That Wolf is one cool cucumber.
** 2018, Derek B. Miller, American By Day, page 65:"You're smart," says Irv, pointing at her and nodding his head. "A smart cucumber."

#### Coordinate terms

* courgette
* gherkin
* marrow
* pickle
* squash
* zucchini

#### Derived terms

* cucumber beetle
* cucumber fish, cucumberfish
* cucumber time
* cucumber tree
* cucumberlike
* cucumbery
* Qcumber
* cucumberish
* cucumberless
* aardvark cucumber
* Armenian cucumber
* bitter cucumber
* burr cucumber
* calm as a cucumber
* cool as a cucumber
* devil's cucumber
* exploding cucumber
* gemsbok cucumber
* maroon cucumber
* sea cucumber
* serpent cucumber
* slicing cucumber
* smacked cucumber
* snake cucumber
* spotted cucumber beetle
* squirting cucumber
* star cucumber
* striped cucumber beetle
* stuffing cucumber
* telegraph cucumber
* wild cucumber
* zombie's cucumber

#### Related terms

* cucumiform (cucumber-shaped)

#### Descendants

* Tok Pisin: kukamba
* → Cherokee: ᎦᎦᎹ (gagama)
* → Plains Cree: kohkompaninawak
* → Spanish: cacombra
* → Welsh: ciwcymbr
* → Zulu: îkhukhámba

#### Translations

Afrikaans: komkommer (af)
Albanian: trangull (sq) m kastravec (sq) m
Alekano: gamó
Amharic: ኪያር m (kiyar)
Arabic: خِيَار (ar) m (ḵiyār)
Egyptian Arabic: خيارة f (xeyāra), خيار m pl (xeyār)
Armenian: վարունգ (hy) (varung)
Assamese: তিয়ঁহ (tiõh)
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܝܼܵܪܵܐ m (ḳīyara)
Asturian: pepinu (ast) m
Azerbaijani: xiyar (az)
Bashkir: ҡыяр (qıyar)
Belarusian: агуро́к (be) m (ahurók)
Bengali: শসা (bn) (śośa)
Bhojpuri: खीरा (khīrā)
Brunei Malay: timun
Bulgarian: кра́ставица (bg) f (krástavica)
Burmese: သခွား (my) (sa.hkwa:)
Catalan: cogombre (ca) m
Cebuano: pepino
Chechen: наьрс (närs)
Cherokee: ᎦᎦᎹ (gagama)
Chichewa: mnkhaka
Chinese:
Cantonese: 青瓜 (ceng$^1$ gwaa$^1$), 黃瓜 / 黄瓜 (wong$^4$ gwaa$^1$)
Dungan: хуонгуа (huongua)
Eastern Min: 黃瓜 / 黄瓜 (uòng-guă)
Hakka: 黃瓜 / 黄瓜 (vòng-kôa)
Hokkien: 刺瓜 (zh-min-nan) (chhì-koe), 黃瓜 / 黄瓜 (zh-min-nan) (n̂g-koe)
Jin: 黃瓜 / 黄瓜 (huon$^1$ gua$^1$)
Mandarin: 黃瓜 / 黄瓜 (zh) (huángguā), 青瓜 (zh) (qīngguā)
Wu: 黃瓜 / 黄瓜 ($^6$waon-ko)
Xiang: 黃瓜 / 黄瓜 (uan$^2$ gua$^1$)
Chuvash: хӑяр (hăjar)
Coptic:
Bohairic: ϣⲱⲡⲓ m (šōpi)
Sahidic: ϣⲱⲡⲉ m (šōpe)
Cornish: kukomber m
Czech: okurka (cs) f
Danish: agurk (da) c
Dargwa: хияр (ꭓiər)
Dutch: komkommer (nl) m
Early Assamese: খিৰি (khiri)
Egyptian: (sšpt f),   (bꜣdt f)
Esperanto: kukumo
Estonian: kurk (et)
Ewe: adzamtre
Faroese: agurka f
Finnish: kurkku (fi)
French: concombre (fr) m
Friulian: cudumar m
Galician: cogombro (gl) m
Georgian: კიტრი (ka) (ḳiṭri)
German: Gurke (de) f, Salatgurke f
Greek: αγγούρι (el) n (angoúri)
Ancient: σίκυος m (síkuos), σικυός m (sikuós), σίκυς f (síkus), ἀγγούριον n (angoúrion)
Greenlandic: agurki
Gujarati: કાકડી f (kākḍī)
Hawaiian: kaʻukama
Hebrew: מְלָפְפוֹן (he) m (m'laf'fon)
Hindi: ककड़ी (hi) f (kakṛī), खीरा (hi) m (khīrā)
Hungarian: (often referring to gherkin) uborka (hu), (the type longer than 30 cm, 1 ft) kígyóuborka (hu)
Icelandic: gúrka (is) f, agúrka (is) f
Ido: kukombro (io)
Ilocano: pipino
Indonesian: mentimun (id), timun (id), ketimun (id)
Irish: cúcamar
Italian: cetriolo (it) m
Japanese: 胡瓜 (ja) (きゅうり, kyūri), キュウリ (ja) (kyūri)
Javanese: timun (jv)
Kalmyk: хаяр (xayar), аһурцг (ağurtsg)
Kannada: ಸೌತೆಕಾಯಿ (kn) (sautekāyi), ಸವುತೆ (kn) (savute)
Karakalpak: qıyar
Kazakh: қияр (qiär), бәдірен (bädıren)
Khakas: ӱгурсӱ (ügursü)
Khmer: ត្រសក់ (km) (trɑsɑk), តាសក់ (km) (tasɑk)
Kikai: 胡瓜 (きうい, kiui)
Komi-Zyrian: ӧгурец (ögurec), ӧгуреч (ögureć)
Konkani: तौशे (tauśe)
Korean: 오이 (ko) (oi)
Kumyk: хыяр (xıyar)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ئاروو (arû), خەیار (xeyar)
Northern Kurdish: xiyar (ku), (rare) arû (ku)
Kyrgyz: бадыраң (ky) (badıraŋ)
Lao: ໝາກແຕງ (lo) (māk tǣng)
Latin: cucumis (la) m
Latvian: gurķis (lv) m
Lithuanian: agurkas m
Lü: ᦶᦎᧂᦌᧂᧉ (ṫaengsang²)
Macedonian: краставица f (krastavica)
Malay: timun (ms)
Malayalam: വെള്ളരിക്ക (veḷḷarikka)
Maltese: ħjara
Maranao: pipino
Marathi: काकडी f (kākḍī)
Middle English: cucumer
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: өргөст хэмх (örgöst xemx), огурцы (ogurcy)
Navajo: taʼneeskʼání áłtsʼóózígíí
Norman: cocombre f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: agurk (no) m
Nynorsk: agurk m
Occitan: cogombre (oc) m
Okinawan: 胡瓜 (きーうい, kīui)
Old English: eorþæppel m
Ottoman Turkish: خیار (hıyâr)
Pannonian Rusyn: огурка f (ohurka)
Persian:
Dari: بَادْرَنْگ (bādrang), خِیَار (xiyār)
Iranian Persian: خِیار (xiyâr)
Plautdietsch: Gurkj f
Polish: ogórek (pl) m
Portuguese: pepino (pt) m
Punjabi: ਖੀਰਾ m (khīrā)
Romanian: castravete (ro) m
Romansch: cucumera f
Russian: огуре́ц (ru) m (oguréc)
Scottish Gaelic: cularan m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: кра̏ставац m
Roman: krȁstavac (sh) m
Seychellois Creole: kokonm
Sinhalese: පිපිඤ්ඤා (si) (pipiññā)
Slovak: uhorka (sk) f
Slovene: kumara (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: górka f
Southern Altai: огурчын (ogurčïn)
Spanish: pepino (es) m
Swahili: tango
Swedish: gurka (sv) c
Tagalog: pipino
Tajik: бодиринг (tg) (bodiring)
Tamil: வெள்ளரிக்காய் (ta) (veḷḷarikkāy)
Tatar: кыяр (tt) (qıyar)
Telugu: దోసకాయ (te) (dōsakāya)
Thai: แตงกวา (th) (dtɛɛng-gwaa)
Isan: บักแตง (bak-dtɛɛng), หมากแตง (maak-dtɛɛng)
Northern Thai: บะแต๋ง (ba-dtɛ̌ng)
Southern Thai: แตงเบา (dtɛɛng-bao)
Tigrinya: ኩኩምበር (kukumbär), ቺትርዮለ (čitrəyolä)
Turkish: hıyar (tr), salatalık (tr)
Turkmen: hyýar
Ukrainian: огіро́к (uk) (ohirók)
Urdu: کَکْڑی f (kakṛī), کِھیرا m (khīrā)
Uyghur: تەرخەمەك (ug) (terxemek)
Uzbek: bodring (uz)
Venetan: zetriol
Vietnamese: dưa chuột (vi), dưa leo (vi)
Welsh: ciwcymbr (cy) m, ciwcymer m, cucumer (cy) m, chwerwddwr m
White Hmong: dib
Yakut: огурсу (ogursu)
Yiddish: אוגערקע f (ugerke)
Zhuang: lwgbieng
ǃXóõ: ʘna̰e :

### References

* ↑ “Cucumber” in John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] , London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1791, →OCLC.
* ↑ Hall, Joseph Sargent (1942 March 2) “1. The Vowel Sounds of Stressed Syllables”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 10, page 38.

### Further reading

* cucumber on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

## Middle English
### Noun

cucumber
* Alternative form of cucumer