Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A plant (Brassica napus var. napobrassica) in the mustard family, having a thick bulbous yellowish root used as a vegetable.
  • noun The edible root of this plant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun North America the swede, or Swedish turnip; the European plant Brassica napus
  • noun North America the edible root of this plant

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Swedish dialectal rotabagge : rot, root (from Old Norse rōt; see wrād- in Indo-European roots) + bagge, bag (from Old Norse baggi).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1799, from Swedish rotabagge, a dialectal word from Västergötland, from rot (“root”) +‎ bagge (“bag”).

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Examples

  • I would, however, just like to make the additional point that the flesh of the rutabaga is a lovely pale orange color; it is pretty on the inside.

    Toast: Lindy 2006

  • I would, however, just like to make the additional point that the flesh of the rutabaga is a lovely pale orange color; it is pretty on the inside.

    Roots to Beg For: Clapshot Goes to Town Lindy 2006

  • I have read that the rutabaga is a scottish turnip, though it is certainly found elsewhere, and found in the same places as ordinary turnips.

    Toast: Lindy 2006

  • I have read that the rutabaga is a scottish turnip, though it is certainly found elsewhere, and found in the same places as ordinary turnips.

    Roots to Beg For: Clapshot Goes to Town Lindy 2006

  • I think a rutabaga is what, in England, we called a swede - yellowish, large root vegetable - good mashed with lots of butter.

    [jennifer rose] What Can't You Get in Mexico? 2008

  • I think a rutabaga is what, in England, we called a swede - yellowish, large root vegetable - good mashed with lots of butter.

    [jennifer rose] What Can't You Get in Mexico? 2008

  • I think a rutabaga is what, in England, we called a swede - yellowish, large root vegetable - good mashed with lots of butter.

    [jennifer rose] What Can't You Get in Mexico? 2008

  • I think a rutabaga is what, in England, we called a swede - yellowish, large root vegetable - good mashed with lots of butter.

    [jennifer rose] What Can't You Get in Mexico? 2008

  • I think a rutabaga is what, in England, we called a swede - yellowish, large root vegetable - good mashed with lots of butter.

    [jennifer rose] What Can't You Get in Mexico? 2008

  • I think a rutabaga is what, in England, we called a swede - yellowish, large root vegetable - good mashed with lots of butter.

    [jennifer rose] What Can't You Get in Mexico? 2008

  • Well, I get a weekly veg box from Riverford Farm, with India-unfriendly non-negotiable contents; every winter, I notice, neeps (aka swedes, or, in the US, rutabaga – and thus the ‘craggy wad’ with ‘the texture ... of wet dog crap’ that sparks the terrible primal scene in Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections) turn up much more than anyone could want.

    Jenny Turner · Stick in a Pie for Tomorrow: Thrift Jenny Turner 2026

Comments

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  • Known in the UK as a swede. I finally made the connection just the other day after five years of vainly trying to convey the concept to bewildered Canadians.

    Yummy.

    March 17, 2009

  • Every rutabaga is a swede. But not every Swede is a rutabaga, regardless of the level of docility.

    See ballistic root vegetables.

    March 17, 2009

  • Wow, really? That's wild - I am Canadian and I've never heard it referred to as a 'swede' either.

    March 17, 2009

  • I'm confused. Why is it a swede? What connection, yarb? *feels very dense*

    *realizes it must be that McGangbang*

    March 17, 2009

  • Reminds me of that infamous sports headline after the English football team lost to Sweden in a game they were favoured to win. Sweden played well of course but the English were a shambles. As the defeat eliminated England from the 1992 European Championship, the press were bristling:

    Swedes 2, Turnips 1.

    March 17, 2009

  • And it went downhill from there. Yanks 2, Planks 0 if I remember rightly.

    They're swedes in NZ too, by the way.

    July 23, 2009

  • God, I could murder a good swede right now. *rubs tummy*

    July 23, 2009

  • My dog's name (collie-poodle) - coldle or poolie- in the 1970s. we called him Rudy

    August 24, 2011