A parsnip is a long, pale root vegetable that looks like a white carrot and has a sweet, nutty flavor when cooked. It is often roasted, boiled, or used in soups and stews.
From Middle English 'pasnepe', from Old French 'pastinaca', from Latin 'pastinaca', which also gave us 'pastinaca sativa' for the plant. The 'nip' ending was added by association with 'turnip'.
The 'snip' in 'parsnip' isn’t original; English speakers tacked it on because the vegetable reminded them of turnips. It’s a nice example of how words get reshaped just to sound like their neighbors.
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