Google tells me that both 'legumes' and 'vegetais' mean 'vegetables'.
Can anyone give me a little more detail on their meanings and the right contexts to use them in?
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Sign up to join this communityGoogle tells me that both 'legumes' and 'vegetais' mean 'vegetables'.
Can anyone give me a little more detail on their meanings and the right contexts to use them in?
tl;dr — "vegetal" is a vegetable; "legume" is a vegetable from horticulture.
"Vegetal" means vegetable.
It is the same word as in English.
This word has a precise definition, and its common use matches the scientific definition.
Trees, shrubs, grasses, they are all vegetables.
The Priberam dictionary defines it as:
ve·ge·tal
adjectivo de dois géneros
- Relativo às plantas.
substantivo masculino
Árvore; planta. [Tree; plant]
Terra proveniente das decomposições vegetais. = HÚMUS
"vegetal", in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa [online], 2008-2020, https://dicionario.priberam.org/vegetal [visited in 09-04-2020].
"Legume" is a common word for an horticulture produce.
It's a fuzzy word with a more fluid meaning.
It's the name in the supermarket for "fruits and vegetables": "frutas e legumes".
The root of the word "legume" is the same word as the root for the English word "legume" (pt: leguminosa).
The Priberam dictionary defines it as:
le·gu·me
substantivo masculino
Grão das plantas faseoláceas.
[Botânica] Planta hortense que dá vagem.
Produto da horticultura.
Hortaliça.
"legume", in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa [online], 2008-2020, https://dicionario.priberam.org/legume [visited 09-04-2020].
I would translate that as:
Grain from the Fabaceae family. ("Phaseollaceae"? Just... yeah, ignore that.)
[Botanic] Horticultural plant that yields pods.
Horticulture produce.
Edible greenery produce from horticulture.
Kale, broad-beans, carrots, tomato, cucumber, bell-pepper, are "legumes": horticulture products.