A salad dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage mixed with mayonnaise or vinaigrette dressing.
From Dutch koolsla, combining kool ('cabbage') and sla ('salad'). Dutch colonists brought this dish to America in the 18th century. The word was anglicized from 'kool sla' to 'cole slaw' and eventually 'coleslaw'.
The 'cole' in coleslaw is the same root found in 'kale', 'collard greens', and even 'cauliflower' (literally 'cabbage flower'). What Americans call coleslaw, the Dutch still call koolsla, proving that sometimes the borrowed version of a word changes more than the original.
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