From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfennelfen‧nel /ˈfenl/ noun [uncountable] HBPa pale green plant whose seeds are used to give a special taste to food and which is also used as a vegetable
Examples from the Corpus
fennel• Try it with grilled sea bass and fennel.• Scatter the 3 split garlic cloves, fennel, onion, pancetta, fennel seeds and the fennel leaves over the rabbit.• Add onion, fennel, and garlic, and cook until onion is translucent; be careful not to burn garlic.• Scatter the remaining fennel leaves over the rabbit.• Throw a few twigs of rosemary, fennel or lavender on to hot coals for extra fragrance.• Trim the fennel, cut into quarters and core.• It reminds me of eating wild boar in Tuscany where fennel seed is traditionally added to give an edge to the flavour.Origin fennel Old English finugl, from Latin feniculum, from fenum “hay (= dried grass)” 