means The edible parts of plants—roots, stems, leaves, and the like—eaten as part of a meal, usually savory rather than sweet.

from From Latin 'vegetabilis,' meaning 'able to live and grow,' built on 'vegetare' (to animate, to enliven) and 'vegere' (to be lively or vigorous)—the same vigorous root that gives us 'vigil' and 'vigor.' Oddly, the word first meant simply 'living, growing thing'; only in the 1700s did English narrow it to the plants on your plate. So a 'vegetable' was once anything bursting with life—an irony not lost on anyone staring down a plate of limp boiled spinach.