potato bean
- noun
- /pəˈteɪtoʊ biːn/
- Archaic
:
frijol de papa
- The roots of the potato bean can be eaten after cooking, much like potatoes.
Examples
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Early settlers learned from Native Americans how to prepare potato bean dishes.
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The potato bean thrives in well-drained soils and full sun.
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The potato bean is rich in nutrients.
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Many potato beans were harvested last year.
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Early settlers learned from Native Americans how to prepare potato bean dishes.
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The potato bean thrives in well-drained soils and full sun.
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The roots of the potato bean can be eaten after cooking, much like potatoes.
Synonyms
1
7.7
A North American plant with an edible underground root eaten by Native Americans
A North American vine that climbs and has purple-brown flowers and edible underground roots
A North American climbing plant with sweet-smelling flowers and edible tubers used like potatoes
A North American climbing plant with purple flowers and edible roots
A North American plant with underground tubers that people eat
A North American vine with sweet-smelling flowers and edible roots used for food
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines two concrete, descriptive nouns whose meanings yield a clear composite idea: a bean/legume associated with potato-like edible tubers or roots. A B1 learner who knows 'potato' and 'bean' would reasonably infer a plant that is a legume with large edible roots, and such noun‑noun plant names are cross‑linguistically common, so the meaning is compositionally predictable.
Etymology
Potato bean comes from its simple, literal image: a climbing bean plant that makes edible roots that look like a potato. Early settlers learned to cook and eat these roots from Native Americans, so the name now means 'a bean with potato-like roots'.