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Is the word "lettuce" an uncountable noun or countable noun ?

k1eran
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Nguyễn Hải My
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1 Answers1

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Lettuce is an uncountable noun. Its most common classifiers are "heads of lettuce" and "leaves of lettuce."

JJJ
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spybullock
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    But I can buy "a lettuce" from the supermarket. It might be that that’s a colloquialism or a contraction of "head of lettuce" or it could be context dependant as suggested in the comments. Do you have any references that would clarify? (Welcome to ELU, by the way!). – Pam Sep 30 '18 at 11:50
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    I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "a lettuce" before (AmE). It's always "a head of lettuce" (or "a bag of lettuce," "some lettuce," "a lettuce leaf," etc.) – Mike Harris Sep 30 '18 at 12:22
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    Lettuce is used countably in British English. We can say 'there are five lettuces on the table'. During a shortage, The Times reported that "Tesco stores are displaying notices that say customers can buy only three lettuces. " – Michael Harvey Sep 30 '18 at 12:36
  • As a Brit, I don't understand what "head of lettuce" means. I assume it means a single lettuce? – TrevorD Sep 30 '18 at 18:06
  • @TrevorD I think it is the part that's above ground (i.e. not the roots). I added a source to show that it can be used as an uncountable or countable noun. So, technically the answer is correct (it doesn't say it cannot be use countably). – JJJ Oct 01 '18 at 06:19
  • @JJJ Thanks. The bit above ground is also what we Brits generally mean when referring to "a lettuce" (which is also what I meant by "a single lettuce" - I didn't think about the roots!). – TrevorD Oct 02 '18 at 11:19
  • @MichaelHarvey Thanks for that! It's always fascinating to learn yet another distinction between British and American English. – Mike Harris Oct 02 '18 at 14:44
  • I have seen "heads of lettuce" used in Britain. I suspect it is mainly used by specialists such as growers, supermarket and grocery retailers, etc – Michael Harvey Oct 02 '18 at 14:48