Kale

//kæɪl// name, noun, slang

name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An edible plant, similar to cabbage, with curled leaves that do not form a dense head (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) uncountable, usually
  2. 2
    coarse curly-leafed cabbage wordnet
  3. 3
    Any of several cabbage-like food plants that are kinds of Brassica oleracea. uncountable, usually
  4. 4
    a hardy cabbage with coarse curly leaves that do not form a head wordnet
  5. 5
    Broth containing kale as a chief ingredient. uncountable, usually
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    informal terms for money wordnet
  2. 7
    Money. dated, slang, uncountable, usually

    "I’ll bet he takes nine-tenths of his kale from women and children, and he’s an honored citizen."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Daughter of Zeus. Greek
  2. 2
    A moon of Jupiter.

Synonyms

All synonyms
borecoleboodleboodlebrassbrassica oleracea acephalabread

Example

More examples

"Mary made a kale and quinoa salad."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Northern Middle English cale, cal (Southern col), from Old English cāl, cāul, cāwel, from Latin caulis. Compare Icelandic kál (“cabbage”), German Kohl (“cabbage”). Doublet of caulis, cole, and gobi.

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek Καλή (Kalḗ, literally “beauty”), see καλός (kalós, “beautiful”).

Related phrases

Asian kaleChinese kaleItalian kaleRed Russian kaleRussian kaleTuscan kaleblack kalecurly kaledinosaur kalekale runtmuslin-kalepalm tree kale

More for "kale"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.