A small green summer squash with tender skin and mild flavor, commonly used in cooking; known as zucchini in North America.
From French 'courgette,' the diminutive of 'courge' (gourd), from Latin 'cucurbita.' The -ette suffix indicates smallness, so literally means 'little gourd.'
Courgettes are technically fruits botanically (they're the seed-bearing part of the plant), but we eat them as vegetables—and they're so mild-flavored that they were actually unpopular in Europe until the 1960s when French chefs began celebrating them in nouvelle cuisine.
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