parsley

From Middle English persely, from Old French peresil, from Latin petroselīnum, from Ancient Greek πετροσέλῑνον (petrosélīnon, “parsley”), from πέτρος (pétros, “rock, stone”) + σέλῑνον (sélīnon, “celery”). Displaced Old English petersiliġe, which goes back to the same root.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑː(ɹ)sli/

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parsley (usually uncountable, plural parsleys)

1. (countable, uncountable) A bright green, biennial herb, Petroselinum crispum, having many cultivars.
2. (uncountable) The leaves of this plant used in Middle Eastern, European, and American cooking.
3. (by extension, loosely) Any herb resembling parsley, such as cilantro (Chinese parsley) or chervil (French parsley).

parsley (third-person singular simple present parsleys, present participle parsleying, simple past and past participle parsleyed)

1. (transitive) To add parsley to.

   parsleyed potatoes

   • 1923, William Teignmouth Shore, My Cook Book, page 46:

     Put a layer of mashed potato on one side and also on the other after peppering, salting and finely-chopped parsleying it to taste.

• Players, parleys, players, prelays, replays, sparely