Ipomoea batatas
- noun
- /ˌaɪpəˈmiːə bəˈtɑːtəs/
- Specialized
:
batata
- Many traditional dishes in the Caribbean use Ipomoea batatas as a main ingredient.
Examples
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I love to eat Ipomoea batatas baked with cinnamon.
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Did you know that Ipomoea batatas is rich in vitamins?
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Farmers rotate leguminous crops with Ipomoea batatas to maintain soil fertility.
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Scientists studied the growth patterns of Ipomoea batatas under different climate conditions.
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Many traditional dishes in the Caribbean use Ipomoea batatas as a main ingredient.
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I love to eat Ipomoea batatas baked with cinnamon.
-
Did you know that Ipomoea batatas is rich in vitamins?
Synonyms
74
1.0
A large root vegetable with sweet, starchy flesh you cook or bake
1
5.6
A plant grown for its sweet edible roots called sweet potatoes
A trailing plant grown for its large sweet roots eaten as food
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward taxonomic binomial: combining the genus name 'Ipomoea' with 'batatas' (a plant yielding sweet tuberous roots) yields the species identity 'the sweet potato species of Ipomoea.' If a learner knows both constituents, the referential meaning follows directly because botanical Latin uses this regular compositional pattern, which is cross-linguistically recognizable. Although the terms are somewhat specialized, their combined sense is transparent rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
Ipomoea batatas may come from two older words: Ipomoea is from Greek meaning 'worm-like' because the plant's stems twist and curl like a worm, and batatas comes from the Caribbean word 'batata' for the sweet, edible root. That's why the name paints a picture of a twining plant with a tasty root and helps you remember it is the sweet potato.