Etymology
In what century did the term "vegetable" become associated with a plant grown for food?
Vegetable
The word "vegetable" was first recorded in English in the early 15th century from Old French, and was in origin applied to any plant. This is still the sense of the adjective "vegetable" in biological context. The word is taken from Medieval Latin "vegetabilis" "growing, flourishing" (i.e. of a plant), a semantic change from a Late Latin meaning "to be enlivening, quickening", a derivation of the verb "vegetare" "enliven", which is derived from "vegetus" "to be alive, active" (related to "vigor"), in reference to the process of a plant growing. In 1767, the meaning of the term "vegetable" was specified to mean "plant cultivated for food, edible herb or root." The year 1955 noted the first use of the shortened, slang term "veggie". As an adjective, the word "vegetable" is used in scientific and technical contexts with a different and much broader meaning, namely of "related to plants" in general, edible or not — as in "vegetable matter", "vegetable kingdom", "vegetable origin", etc. The meaning of "vegetable" as "plant grown for food" was not established until the 18th century.