You can think of vegetative as the way a plant is alive. A plant takes in water, puts out leaves, gets bigger and makes more of itself — and none of it is decided by anything. Living and growing happen; choosing does not. Both uses of the word sit on that picture.
vegetative 可以想成「植物那種活法」。植物喝水、長葉子、長大、甚至自己長出新的一株，可是這些事沒有誰在後面決定。活著和生長照常發生，選擇不發生。這個字的兩個用法，底下都是這幅畫面。
From the word’s history
Wiktionary traces it through Middle French vegetatif and Medieval Latin vegetativus to Latin vegetare, to make grow or enliven — so growing has been the centre of the word from the start.
來源資料把它追到中古法文 végétatif、中世紀拉丁文 vegetativus，再到拉丁文 vegetare（使生長、使有活力）。也就是說，「長」這件事從一開始就在這個字的中心。
Wiktionary, "vegetative"
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。