Meaning

noun plant with dense clusters of tight green flower buds

noun branched green undeveloped flower heads

origin1699, Italian broccoli, plural of broccolo (“cabbage sprout, head”), diminutive of brocco (“shoot, sprout”) (which is also the origin of brocade), from Latin broccus (“pointed, sharp, projecting; buck-toothed”), possibly of Gaulish origin, related to Proto-Celtic *brokkos (“badger”) or Proto-Celtic *brozdos (“tip, point”) (compare Scottish Gaelic brog (“pointed instrument, awl”), Welsh procio…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0