Learn English – Is it awkward to use the word “aubergine” instead of “eggplant”

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According to Google Ngrams eggplant is far more common (although in British English aubergine seems to have a small advantage over eggplant).

So, not being a native speaker of English I wonder whether using the word "aubergine" would be considered smug or weird by native speakers.

The thing is that I find the word "aubergine" a bit more natural because it's basically the same as in German (Aubergine) — which happens to be my native language.

Best Answer

Aubergine is the British word (originally, I think, from French, but there's no percentage in guessing exactly how), and many British cooks literally would not know what eggplant is. In North America, as others have said, it's the other way about.

Interestingly, there is another vegetable with the same identity problem; what the British call courgettes and the Americans zucchini.