rapunzel means A German fairy tale about a girl imprisoned in a tower who lets down her long hair for a rescuer to climb.
rapunzel is pronounced /ɹəˈpʌnzəl/.
Why “rapunzel” is a great word
The name for both a dark-haired fairy-tale heroine imprisoned in a tower and for several wild, edible salad plants, most notably rampion and corn salad. Borrowed from German Rapunzel, which is the name for several varieties of lettuce or salad plants. Unlike "rampion" (which names only the specific blue-flowered campanula) or "mâche" (which designates solely the tender corn salad), Rapunzel is a word rooted equally in soil and story. It is the craving for a humble green pulled from a forbidden garden, the impossible length of hair braided into a ladder, and the silent tower in a sunlit clearing—a testament to how the wildest of fates can grow from the simplest of hungers.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Rapunzel, the name of several varieties of lettuce.
name
- A German fairy tale about a girl imprisoned in a tower who lets down her long hair for a rescuer to climb.
- The fictional girl who is the protagonist and title character of the fairy tale.e.g.“[…] as they loll in pairs or trios, looking down from the windows like Rapunzels and carpet-knights, while they eat bruised apricots, tomorrow is always on their lips as honey to come.”
noun
- A plant with leaves and crisp roots which have been used in salads, rampion, Campanula rapunculus.
- A plant with leaves which are used in salads, corn salad or mâche, Valerianella locusta.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.