cauliflower [L16th] Cauliflower is a modified form of the Italian cavoli fiori, literally ‘cabbage flowers’—cavoli comes from Latin caulis ‘cabbage’, the source also of kale [ME]. The original 16th-century English forms colieflorie and cole-flory had their first element influenced by cole [OE] ‘cabbage’, ultimately from caulis, and only later was the spelling changed to match the original Latin root.