Skip to main content
potato

potato

501 1.0
A starchy vegetable that people eat, often boiled or mashed
  • noun
  • /pəˈteɪtoʊ/
translation icon : patata (ES)
  • She mashed the boiled potatoes and added butter for a creamy texture.
  • potato chips
  • meat and potatoes
  • sweet potatoes

So that's like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and sweet foods.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I love salty potato-based treats and I will not apologize for that.

  • And I would like a spicy potato soft Taco from Taco Bell.

  • So we're going with slightly larger potatoes than normal.

  • You ever leave a potato on your shelf?

  • Most children attempted to read the potato chip bag, even if they could not read anything else.

    Academic text (1999)
  • I think I have the potato vegetable with beef.

  • OK, so now the choice between steak and potatoes, OK?

  • And then I had a mountain of mashed potatoes... and I went back for ice cream three times.

  • So just as an example, you could boil potatoes, you could bake potatoes.

  • I want a rib eye steak with mashed potatoes and a large green salad.

Synonyms

vegetable
vspotato
545 1.0

A plant or plant part eaten as food, usually not sweet

is one specific starchy crop within the larger food plant category
tater
vspotato
  • Informal
34 8.4

A potato that people cook and eat

is the neutral, standard name rather than informal speech
tuber
vspotato
  • Specialized
9 6.0

A thick underground stem that stores food and grows new shoots, like a potato

is the specific edible crop rather than the general plant storage organ
spud
vspotato
  • Informal
7 3.0

A potato often eaten cooked or fried

is the neutral culinary term used in general contexts
root vegetable
vspotato
5 2.4

A vegetable that grows under the ground like a carrot or potato

is the specific starchy staple crop rather than the broader vegetable category
white potato
vspotato
1 1.0

A common root vegetable with pale skin and white flesh used for cooking

is the general category for all varieties, not one specific type
Irish potato
vspotato
1 1.0

A common white potato grown and eaten in Ireland and other countries

is the broad, generic term covering all regional varieties
murphy
vspotato
  • UK
9.9

A name for a potato used in some parts of Ireland and Britain

is the widely used, neutral name rather than local dialect
Solanum tuberosum
vspotato
  • Specialized
4.4

A plant that grows edible parts under the ground called potatoes

is the everyday common name rather than scientific terminology
Uruguay potato
vspotato
6.7

A type of potato from Uruguay grown for eating

is the generic food name, not tied to a single country origin

Idioms

hot potato
  • Informal
7 5.6

A difficult issue people try to avoid or pass to others

To feel very lazy and not want to do anything

Compounds

74 1.0

A large root vegetable with sweet, starchy flesh you cook or bake

70 1.0

Soft smooth potatoes mixed with milk and butter and served as a side

48 1.0

A thin crispy slice of potato fried or baked and eaten as a snack

34 1.0

A cold side dish of chopped cooked potatoes mixed with mayonnaise and herbs

20 1.0

A potato cooked in its skin in an oven until soft

couch potato
  • Informal
11 4.3

A person who sits or lies down a lot, usually watching television

A thin round fried food made from grated potato, egg, and a little flour

2 2.1

A crisp shell of potato peel fried or baked and topped with melted cheese and bacon

A black and yellow beetle that eats potato plants

A black-and-yellow beetle that eats potato leaves when young and as an adult

1 1.0

A common root vegetable with pale skin and white flesh used for cooking

1 1.0

A common white potato grown and eaten in Ireland and other countries

1 5.7

A black and yellow beetle that eats potato leaves

air potato
  • Indian
1 8.7

A climbing tropical vine with large edible round tubers that grow above ground

1 2.4

A baked potato with its skin left on

potato head
  • Offensive
1 8.4

A person who behaves in a foolish or silly way

1 4.3

A climbing plant with light-blue flowers used to decorate walls and fences

1 7.9

A small egg-shaped clay wind instrument with a mouthpiece and finger holes

A South American bush or small tree with purple flowers that is not a true potato

little potato
  • Specialized
9.8

A plant disease that makes potatoes small and misshapen

A vine from Costa Rica with large purple-blue flowers and hook-shaped spines

6.9

A North American plant with underground tubers that people eat

8.9

A tropical climbing plant from the Amazon with large edible roots that people cook and eat

A plant disease that makes potato leaves and potatoes rot

potato chaser
  • Informal
9.7

A person who loves potatoes and looks for new potato dishes

potato bean
  • Archaic
8.4

A climbing plant from North America with edible underground roots that Native Americans used as food

8.4

A thin crispy snack made from roasted seaweed that people eat

potato disease
  • Specialized
3.6

An illness that makes potato leaves yellow and tubers rot

potato mildew
  • Specialized
4.6

A plant disease that makes potato leaves and potatoes rot

potato mold
  • Specialized
5.4

A disease caused by a fungus that makes potatoes rot in fields

potato mosaic
  • Specialized
7.0

A disease caused by a virus that makes potato leaves show pale and dark patches

potato moth
  • Specialized
5.9

A small greyish-brown moth whose caterpillar eats and damages potatoes

potato murrain
  • Archaic
9.9

A disease that kills potato plants and ruins crops

potato nose
  • Informal
9.9

A large red round nose with small red lines from blood vessels

potato eater
  • Informal
3.9

A person who likes to eat potatoes and other simple comfort food

potato family
  • Specialized
4.2

A group of flowering plants that includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants

potato fern
  • Australian
8.7

A large evergreen fern from Australia with an edible root people cook

A small fern that grows on trees in South America with small potato-like lumps

potato fungus
  • Specialized
4.4

A fungus that attacks potatoes and makes black spots on the tubers

A thin fried strip of potato skin eaten as a snack

Thin strips of potato skin you fry until crisp and eat as a snack

potato tuber moth
  • Specialized
8.2

A small grey-brown insect whose caterpillars eat and damage potato crops

potato tuberworm
  • Specialized
7.9

A small caterpillar that eats and makes tunnels in potato stems and leaves

potato wart
  • Specialized
8.2

A disease that makes dark, warty, spongy growths on potatoes

potato wart fungus
  • Specialized
7.5

A fungus that makes wart-like lumps on potatoes

potato worm
  • Specialized
7.8

A large green caterpillar with white stripes that eats potato and tomato leaves

potato pulp
  • Specialized
4.2

Leftover potato material after removing starch that farmers feed to animals

3.5

A race where people carry potatoes one at a time on a spoon

potato scab bacteria
  • Specialized
5.1

Germs that make brown rough patches on potatoes

A South American shrub not related to the edible potato that people grow for pretty purple flowers

potato yellow dwarf
  • Specialized
5.6

A disease of potato plants that makes leaves yellow and plants small

6.1

A germ that makes potato plants small and their leaves turn yellow

A trailing plant grown for its large sweet roots eaten as food

sweet-potato ring rot
  • Specialized
7.9

A disease that makes rings of dry rot on sweet potato roots

sweet-potato whitefly
  • Specialized
6.1

A small insect that attacks sweet potatoes and other crops and spreads plant viruses

telingo potato
  • Philippine
9.9

A plant with a very strong smell grown in Southeast Asia for its edible root like a potato

Uruguay potato vine
  • Specialized
7.6

A climbing plant with pretty flowers and small edible potatoes

A type of potato from Uruguay grown for eating

A plant that grows edible potatoes underground and has poisonous climbing stems

7.1

A plant that grows every year in dry parts of southwestern US and Mexico and has small tubers like potatoes

A tropical plant that grows along the ground or climbs and has a large root people eat

A climbing tropical plant with a large root used for food and related to the sweet potato

7.0

A disease of potato plants that makes leaves turn yellow and plants grow poorly

How Starchy

cassava
6 6.3
yam
26 1.0
potato
501 1.0
sunchoke
  • US
1 9.5
carrot
200 1.0
radish
14 1.0

Surface Forms

potato singular
potatoes plural

Etymology

Potato comes from the Spanish patata, which likely mixed the South American word papa for the native potato and the Caribbean word batata for the 'sweet potato'. So the name came to English with the food, which is why potato means the starchy tuber we eat.