napa cabbage

or nap·pa cab·bage

[ nap-uh kab-ij, nah-puh ]

noun

1. a type of Chinese cabbage, Brassica rapa pekinensis, with broad, ruffled, light green leaves that form a cylindrical, compact head, originating in the vicinity of Beijing and now widely cultivated in Europe, North America, and Australia.
2. the leaves and stalks of this plant eaten as a raw or cooked vegetable, especially in East Asian cuisine.

Word History and Origins

Origin of napa cabbage¹

First recorded in 1935–40; from Japanese dialect nappa “greens, salad greens,” equivalent to na “green” + -pa, combining form of ha “leaf”

Example Sentences

Tam was taken aback by the unique shape of the plant — “like a Napa cabbage with a giant baguette coming out of the center” — and, of course, the smell.

From Los Angeles Times

Closely related to turnips and napa cabbage, this mustard green is known for its use in Japanese cuisine.

From Salon

She’s called her globally influenced style “third-culture cooking,” as a Chinese woman who grew up in Australia and now lives in New York, where she might spoon a tahini-miso sauce over roasted Napa cabbage, use Brussels sprouts as the unconventional base of a faux egg-salad sandwich or match feta cheese to choy sum greens.

From Seattle Times

On a recent drizzly Friday at the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands, Laura Matter, who leads the Tilth Alliance program, stood in one of the greenhouses, surveying a line of tables covered in plastic flats filled to the brim with plant starts — mustard greens, Napa cabbage, spinach, collard.

From Seattle Times

Shaved Brussels sprouts and fennel tossed with spinach and napa cabbage get tang from goat cheese, sweetness from caramelized onions and a nice gloss from walnut vinaigrette.

From Washington Post