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Glite Dictionary
green gram

green gram

5.6
A small edible bean used in Asian cooking
  • noun
  • /ɡrin ɡræm/
  • Indian
translation icon : frijol mungo
  • A handful of moong dal (green gram), soaked for 1/2 hour.

Examples

  • I added cooked green gram to my salad for a nutritious boost.

  • In Southeast Asia, green gram is often used to make sweet desserts.

  • Green gram is a popular ingredient in Indian dishes like green gram dal and curries.

Synonyms

bean
vsgreen gram
512 1.0

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

is the particular food seed from a single plant, not all legumes
mung
vsgreen gram
2 7.3

A small green seed used for food in Asian cooking

is the same seed but expressed in a more general description
mung bean
vsgreen gram
2 3.4

A small green bean from Asia that people cook or grow into sprouts

focuses on the seed as food rather than its sprouting use
green bean
vsgreen gram
  • Indian
1 1.0

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

emphasizes its role in Asian cuisine rather than general cooking
munggo
vsgreen gram
  • Philippine
9.9

A small green seed used in Filipino and other Asian cooking

is the general seed term used across various Asian cuisines
green soy
vsgreen gram
  • Indian
3.5

A seed from the mung bean plant used for food

is the botanical food description rather than a common name
golden gram
vsgreen gram
  • Indian
7.1

A small green seed from the mung bean plant that is eaten or sprouted

is the neutral descriptive term for the same food
mash bean
vsgreen gram
  • Indian
5.4

A small green bean from the mung plant that people eat

is the standard descriptive name rather than an informal label
edible bean
vsgreen gram
1.0

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

is specific to the seed of one particular plant used in Asia

Surface Forms

green gram singular
green grams plural

Morphology

green + gram

The phrase is compositionally just 'green' modifying 'gram', so if a learner knows 'gram' as the noun meaning the legume (mung bean) the overall meaning is directly inferable as the green variety of that bean. However, 'gram' as a name for a pulse is regionally used and often unfamiliar or ambiguous (many learners know 'gram' only as a unit of weight), so the head noun may not be recognized without exposure. Given the clear modifier relationship but the lexical obscurity of 'gram' for many learners, the expression is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Green gram comes from a simple picture of small green seeds: green for their color and gram from a word for a 'seed' used in South Asia. So, green gram means the 'edible seed' of the mung bean used in cooking.