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Glite Dictionary
ice-cream bean

ice-cream bean

9.9
A tropical evergreen tree with long pods of soft white pulp you can eat
  • noun
  • /ˈaɪsˌkrim bin/
  • US
translation icon : frijol de helado
  • We tasted the sweet pulp from the ice-cream bean pods during our picnic.

Examples

  • The ice-cream bean tree adds a tropical touch to the landscape with its striking blossoms.

  • The garden is beautiful with the ice-cream bean tree blooming with white flowers.

  • And turns out we planted an ice cream bean and we have our first flowers on the ice cream bean right here.

Synonyms

Inga edulis
vsice-cream bean
  • Specialized
9.6

An evergreen tree from tropical America with white flowers and sweet pulp inside long pods

focuses on edible elongated pods with sweet cottony pulp rather than shade use

Surface Forms

ice-cream bean singular
ice-cream beans plural

Morphology

ice-cream + bean

The compound combines the familiar noun 'bean' (edible seed/pod) with the descriptive modifier 'ice-cream', which clearly suggests a sweet, ice‑cream–like flavor or texture of the pod/pulp. This compositional naming pattern for plants is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer it denotes a bean/tree with sweet, ice‑cream–like pulp.

Etymology

Ice-cream bean gets its name from the tree's long pods that look like a bean and the soft, sweet inside that people say tastes like ice-cream. So the name is a simple picture: a bean-shaped pod with a dessert-like 'sweet pulp'.