- (also informal, especially in North American English veggie)
a plant or part of a plant that is eaten as food. Potatoes, beans and onions are all vegetables 蔬菜 
The children don't eat enough fresh vegetables. 孩子们没有吃足够的新鲜蔬菜。 root vegetables (= for example carrots) 块根蔬菜 a vegetable garden 菜园 We grow our own vegetables. 我们自己种蔬菜。 a salad of raw vegetables 生菜色拉 organic vegetables 施有机肥料的蔬菜 a vegetable patch/plot 蔬菜补丁/地块 vegetable soup 蔬菜汤 vegetable matter (= plants in general) 植物质
- (offensive)
a person who is physically alive but not capable of much mental or physical activity, for example because of an accident or illness 植物人 a person who has a boring life 生活单调乏味的人
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘growing as a plant’): from Old French, or from late Latin vegetabilis ‘animating’, from Latin vegetare, from vegetus ‘active’, from vegere ‘be active’. The current sense dates from the late 16th cent.