borage
Borage (noun) means a Mediterranean plant with hairy leaves and stems that taste faintly of cucumber, used fresh in salads or cooked. Example: “She scattered borage flowers over the salad.”
How to use borage
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA herb with a mild cucumber taste, often used in salads.
It is an ordinary gardening and cookery word, not a technical term.
The stress falls on the first syllable: BOR-ij, not the French-sounding pronunciation the spelling might suggest.
Trace the full origin ↓Fill the gap
Can you complete this real example?
She scattered _____ flowers over the salad.
Etymology
Borage entered English from Old French borage, which came from Medieval Latin borrago. That Latin word may derive from borra, meaning rough hair or short wool, or possibly from an Arabic phrase meaning father of sweat.
