kail

Kail is a term with several historical and regional senses in English and Scots. In Scots and some Northern English dialects, kail primarily refers to leafy vegetables or to dishes prepared from them. As a noun, kail denotes greens such as kale or cabbage, and by extension the edible greens used in cooking. The term also names a simple stew or soup made by boiling greens with meat in broth, a traditional preparation in Scotland and northern England. In modern English, kail is largely obsolete outside dialect circles, with kale or greens serving as the standard terms.

Kail is also attested as a proper noun in some contexts, appearing as a surname and in place names in parts of the British Isles, though such uses are not tied to the vegetable sense. The dialectal word is most commonly encountered in historical writings, folk songs, and regional cookery references, where it reflects the long-standing importance of greens in local diets.

Overall, kail illustrates how regional dialects preserve older culinary vocabulary and reflect everyday food practices, even as the standard terms migrate toward more generalized words like kale and greens.