Turnip (terminology)
Turnip can refer to three vegetables, which are described under the articles Turnip, Rutabaga, and Jicama. The confusion results from the following regional differences of usage.
| Scientific term | Brassica rapa rapa | Brassica napus or B. napobrassica | Pachyrhizus |
| Southern England, most Commonwealth countries | turnip | swede | yam |
| Scotland, North East England, Ireland, the Isle of Man, | swede or white turnip | turnip, yellow turnip or "neep" | yam |
| Cornwall | turnip | turnip | |
| United States, South Yorkshire | turnip | rutabaga or yellow turnip | jicama |
| Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines | turnip | ||
| also called | white turnip or summer turnip | yellow turnip or winter turnip | sweet turnip |
Brassica napus and B. napobrassica are called swedes in England, especially in the South, and in most dialects of the Commonwealth. Rutabaga, from the Swedish rotabagga, for "root bag" is mostly used in North America, in the United States and some parts of Canada. The rutabaga or swede differs from the turnip in that it is typically larger and yellow-orange rather than white. In the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada, the yellow-fleshed variety are referred to as "Turnips" whilst the white-fleshed variety are called "White Turnips" to differentiate the two.
However, in some dialects of British English the two vegetables have overlapping or reversed names. In the north of England and Scotland, the larger, yellow rutabagas are called neeps or swede from folk etymology, while the smaller white turnips are called turnips.. The yellow-fleshed swedes are known as "narkies" in Sunderland, and in past years used to be hollowed out and used as lanterns at Halloween.