noun

arugula

uh-ROO-guh-luh/əˈruːɡələ/

A peppery leafy green used in salads and cooking.

Fresh arugula fills the salad bowl with its distinctive lobed leaves.

A loose bunch of fresh arugula beside a shallow salad bowl filled with the same distinctive deeply lobed leaves, showing both the identifiable plant and its culinary use.

Etymology

Ruchetta is a diminutive plant name for a cabbage-family green. Arugula shares this plant-name ancestry with rocket, another English name for the same salad green.

In context

Food Network85:41

First, I'm going to start with a layer of baby arugula if you can find it. It's nice and peppery.

Our Favorite Ina Garten Recipe Videos | Barefoot Contessa | Food Network

More examples

The pizza is topped with arugula after baking.
He grows arugula in a shallow planter.
Tender arugula leaves fill the serving bowl.

Similar words

rocket: Another name for the same leafy green, common outside America.