wild bean
- noun
- /waɪld biːn/
- US
:
frijol silvestre
- The wild bean was once a staple food for many indigenous peoples in North America.
Examples
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Botanists are studying the wild bean to understand its potential as a modern crop.
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Native Americans cultivated wild beans for centuries.
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We found a patch of wild bean growing near the riverbank.
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The wild bean is often found in North America.
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The wild bean was an important food crop for various Native American tribes.
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Many traditional dishes feature the wild bean as a key ingredient.
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Native Americans used the wild bean both for its flavor and nutritional value.
Synonyms
1
7.7
A North American plant with an edible underground root eaten by Native Americans
A North American climbing plant with sweet-smelling flowers and edible tubers used like potatoes
A North American vine that climbs and has purple-brown flowers and edible underground roots
A North American climbing plant with purple flowers and edible roots
A climbing plant from North America with edible underground roots that Native Americans used as food
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense can be straightforwardly inferred from 'wild' (growing naturally) + 'bean' (an edible plant/seed): a B1 learner would expect an edible plant/seed that grows in the wild. Although the botanical entry describes a nutlike tuber rather than a true legume, the general idea of an edible wild plant is compositionally clear and predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
Wild bean names a climbing North American plant with fragrant flowers and underground tubers that people ate. Because the plant grew in the wild and gave a bean-like food, people called the vine the wild bean, so the name now means this edible vine.