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Glite Dictionary
🌱 A bean plant 🫘 A fresh bean
shell bean

shell bean

5.2
A bean you take from its pod before cooking, usually soft and not fully ripe
  • noun
  • /ʃɛl biːn/
translation icon : judía fresca
  • Farmers' markets in late summer often feature locally grown shell beans.

Examples

  • Can you pass the shell beans for the salad?

  • I bought some fresh shell beans at the farmer's market.

  • After removing the shell beans from their pods, rinse them thoroughly before boiling.

  • Many recipes call for shell beans to be cooked gently with fresh herbs and olive oil.

  • In the summer, I love to add fresh shell beans to my salads for extra flavor.

  • The recipe requires 1 cup of shell beans, which should be shelled before adding to the dish.

  • During the farmers' market, I bought some vibrant green shell beans that were perfect for cooking.

Synonyms

bean
vsshell bean
512 1.0

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

is taken out of its pod before cooking and usually unripe
green bean
vsshell bean
  • Indian
1 1.0

A small round seed used in Asian cooking, often dried or soaked

focuses on seeds removed from pods before cooking rather than species identity
edible bean
vsshell bean
1.0

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

is removed from its pod before cooking and often still unripe

Surface Forms

shell bean singular
shell beans plural

Morphology

shell + bean

The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'shell' (to remove a pod or shell) + 'bean' yields a bean that has been shelled or is intended to be shelled. This meaning follows a regular English verb+noun nominalization pattern and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words can reliably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Shell bean comes from the action of removing the shell of a pod to free the bean inside. That's why it means 'a bean removed from its pod before cooking'.