kolen

Kolen is a term that can refer to different things depending on language and context. In Dutch, kolen is the plural of kool and denotes cabbages or heads of cabbage, and more generally Brassica oleracea crops used as vegetables. It is a common word in agricultural, market, and culinary contexts in the Netherlands and parts of Belgium.

Etymology and usage: The Dutch kolen word comes from kool, the word for cabbage. The plural kolen marks multiple cabbage heads. Historically and in contemporary usage, kolen has been a staple vegetable in Dutch cuisine and rural life, appearing in everyday speech, recipes, and regional dialects.

Other uses: Kolen can also appear as a surname or place name in various countries, where it functions as a proper noun rather than a common noun. In these cases, the meaning is unrelated to the Dutch vegetable sense. Such uses are treated separately in linguistic, genealogical, or geographical references and do not imply a shared meaning with the common noun.

See also: kool, boerenkool, list of Dutch vegetable terms.