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Glite Dictionary
fava bean

fava bean

5 3.1
A large flat seed from the broad bean plant that people cook and eat
  • noun
  • /ˈfɑːvə ˌbiːn/
  • US
translation icon : haba fava
  • Her mother always beside him, shelling fava beans or peeling beets.
  • fava beans and artichokes
  • fresh fava beans
  • fava beans and asparagus

Her mother always beside him, shelling fava beans or peeling beets.

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Examples

  • Let's continue to celebrate our heirloom fava bean growers and our grass-fed goat herders.

    Academic text (2012)

  • We've got our first planting of wheat and barley and vegetable crops like the peas and fava beans and Chard and kale.

  • Got a big bunch of green garlic, some new potatoes, gorgeous fava beans.

    Blog text (18)

  • I would say that everyone would have a disdain for fava beans, a love of shrimp, and a fear of large boats.

  • Well, it's seasonal, but right now we've got some fava beans, broccoli.

  • Some of the GF flours contain garbanzo or fava bean flour, giving them a metallic taste.

    Blog text (31)

  • The Yellow Team made pan-roasted cod, mushrooms, fava beans, pickled green apple, and garlic scape pistou.

    Blog text (2)

  • Ful medames, a fava bean mash that's similar to Mexican refried beans, is one of the staples of an Egyptian diet.

    Blog text (31)

  • I added some cooked fava beans to the salad to give it more flavor and texture.

  • At the farmers' market, I bought fresh fava beans to use in a delicious pasta dish.

Synonyms

bean
vsfava bean
512 1.0

An edible seed or pod from plants like peas and lentils used for food

is a particular large flat edible seed rather than any legume seed
fava
vsfava bean
6 4.6

A type of broad bean used in Mediterranean cooking

is the more general cooking name for the same seed
broad bean
vsfava bean
  • UK
2.4

A large flat edible seed eaten as a vegetable and often called a fava bean

is the common alternative name for this seed used in cooking
horsebean
vsfava bean
  • Archaic
8.9

A seed from the broad bean plant used as food for people and animals

is the same edible seed but highlighted for human culinary use
horse bean
vsfava bean
  • UK
7.8

A type of broad bean grown to feed animals

is the same species but usually considered for human food and cooking
edible bean
vsfava bean
1.0

A seed from plants like peas or lentils that you can eat

is a specific large flat variety of that edible seed

Surface Forms

fava bean singular
fava beans plural

Morphology

fava + bean

This is a straightforward noun compound where 'fava' specifies a type of bean, so the meaning (a kind of edible bean) is directly derivable from the constituents. The 'X bean' compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it.

Etymology

Fava bean gets its name from the Italian word fava and the older Latin word 'faba', both meaning 'bean'. Because these words were used for the large, flat beans people cooked, today fava bean means the big edible 'broad bean' used in cooking.