sprouts
/spraʊts/
noun
Origin
Old English
sprūtan — to spring up, sprout
Overview
Meaning Now
- The small shoots or newly grown stalks of a plant.
- Young, edible vegetable shoots, such as alfalfa or bean sprouts.
Language path
Old English → Middle English → English
Earliest form
sprouten
Earliest period
14th century
Journey
The word traces back to the Germanic root describing rapid upward growth. It shares a common ancestor with words like 'spurt' (in the sense of bursting out) and reflects the biological process of a plant emerging from a seed.
Evolution
- Proto-Germanic
*spreut-
“to burst forth, sprout”
- Old English
sprūtan
“to sprout, germinate”
Strong verb class II
- Middle English
sprouten
“to grow, shoot up”
Development of the noun from the verb
- Early Modern English
sprouts
“young plant shoots”
Pluralized noun usage became standard
Connections
Word parts
sprout
root
shoot, young growth
-s
ending
plural marker
Related across languages
Dutch
spruit
sprout, offshoot
Low German
spruten
to sprout
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External references use DefinedTerm semantics.