Meaning & use
parsley
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Meaning
noununcountable
A green herb with small leaves, used to flavor food or to decorate dishes.
Grammar: No plural in cooking: add some parsley, not a parsley.
Patterns
- chopped parsley
- a bunch of parsley
- sprinkle something with parsley
She sprinkled chopped parsley over the potatoes.
Flat-leaf parsley has more flavor than the curly kind.
He grows parsley in a pot on the kitchen windowsill.
Common combinations
- fresh parsley
- Fresh parsley makes the soup taste brighter.
- chopped parsley
- Top the dish with chopped parsley.
- a sprig of parsley
- The fish came with a sprig of parsley on top.
- flat-leaf parsley
- The recipe calls for a handful of flat-leaf parsley.
- curly parsley
- Restaurants often use curly parsley as a garnish.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Italian parsley
- Italian parsley is another name for flat-leaf parsley, one kind of parsley rather than a separate herb.
- coriander
- Coriander looks somewhat similar but has a different, stronger flavor; it is called cilantro in American English.
- chervil
- Chervil is a milder, delicate herb with a slight aniseed taste, unlike parsley.
Word family
- parsley sauce noun
- a white sauce flavored with parsley
- parsleyed adjective
- flavored or covered with parsley
- parsnip noun
- a root vegetable from a related plant family
Commonly confused: parsley or parsnip? parsley or cilantro?
parsley vs parsnip
A parsnip is a pale root vegetable, while parsley is a leafy herb, though they sound alike.
parsley vs cilantro
Cilantro is the American name for coriander leaves, which are a different herb from parsley.
Practice
Which word names a herb often chopped and sprinkled on food?
Choose one answer.
Parsley is the herb. Parsnip is a root vegetable and is the most tempting wrong answer because it sounds similar.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “parsley”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.