waterblommetjie, noun
- Origin:
- AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, literally ‘little water flower’, water water + blom flower + diminutive suffix -ie.
a. The edible water plant Aponogeton distachyos of the Aponogetonaceae, which occurs naturally in the Western Cape during the spring, and is prized in cooking; blommetjie sense 2; Cape pondweed, see Cape sense 2 a; waterblom (sense a); wateruintjie sense a. Also attributive.
1950 [see sense b].
1994 G. Bisseker in Weekend Post 8 Jan. (Leisure) 6Waterblommetjies fulfil the function of a vegetable in bredie, but their taste is rather bland.
b. combination
waterblommetjie bredie /-ˌbriːdi/, /-ˌbrɪədi/ [Afrikaans, bredie see bredie], a stew of meat and waterblommetjies; wateruintjie bredie, see wateruintjie sense b.
1950 H. Gerber Cape Cookery 87Wateruintjie (Waterblommetjie) Bredie. 2 soup plates of waterblommeties (Aponogeton), plucked from their stalks.
1990 M. Van Biljon in Your Family Oct. 178Our national food is neither waterblommetjiebredie nor braaivleis; it’s tomato sandwiches or frikkadels.
The edible water plant Aponogeton distachyos of the Aponogetonaceae, which occurs naturally in the Western Cape during the spring, and is prized in cooking; blommetjie sense 2; Cape pondweed, see Cape sense 2 a; waterblom (sense a); wateruintjie sense a. Also attributive.
, a stew of meat and waterblommetjies; wateruintjie bredie, see wateruintjie sense b.
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