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pea plant

pea plant

1 1.0
A small garden plant with white flowers and long green pods containing edible green seeds
  • noun
  • /piː plænt/
translation icon : planta de guisante
  • I saw the tendrils of a sweet pea plant intertwined with the fern-like shoot of an asparagus plant.
  • mutant pea plant

Whereas with a shelling pea, you're actually eating not the pod, but the seeds, the immature seeds of the pea plant.

Examples

  • The leaves and tendrils of pea plants are sweet and add a springy crunch to salads.

  • Something new has sprouted magically and mysteriously, and we are as amazed as when we were preschoolers who left the classroom in the afternoon and returned to school the next morning to find that a baby pea plant peeks out from the egg carton garden we and the teacher had planted the week before.

    Academic text (2015)
  • Why were those flimsy pea plants still standing?

    Blog text (21)
  • A pea plant emerged from the hole and crawled its way up the side of the tower.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Also in the backyard, my blue pea plant is blooming profusely.

    Blog text (13)
  • The mutant pea plants thrive and produce seeds in Grusak's rooftop greenhouse because he limits the iron in their growth medium.

    Academic text (1994)
  • They can accumulate a thousand times more iron in their leaves than a normal pea plant, but they don't put any more iron in their seeds.

    Academic text (1994)
  • And then he did a bunch of experiments on pea plants, showing that peas that are wrinkled tend to have offspring, peas that are also wrinkled.

  • PHOTO (COLOR): In his rooftop greenhouse, plant physiologist Michael Grusak checks root growth on iron-accumulating mutant pea plants.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Growing tip: Pea plants are floppy and need some support to thrive.

Synonyms

pea
vspea plant
87 1.0

A climbing plant with long green pods that have round seeds you can eat

is the same idea expressed as a more general common name
snow pea
vspea plant
2 2.3

A flat green pod you eat whole when young

has long pods containing separate round green seeds instead of flat pods
field pea
vspea plant
1 3.5

A small pea plant grown for edible seeds that feed people or animals

is chiefly the garden-cultivated form valued for fresh human consumption
Pisum sativum
vspea plant
  • Specialized
8.4

A climbing plant grown for green peas usually eaten fresh

is the broader common term for that same leguminous plant
common pea
vspea plant
1.0

A garden plant that grows small round green vegetables often eaten fresh

is the wider species term not limited to culinary use
garden pea
vspea plant
2.0

A plant grown for its small green seeds that people eat fresh

is the general botanical concept rather than the culinary focus
garden pea plant
vspea plant
2.0

A plant that grows peas you eat fresh

is the species concept not emphasising how it is eaten
Pisum sativum macrocarpon
vspea plant
  • Specialized
9.6

A pea plant with soft, flat pods that you can eat whole

is the general plant that normally makes pods with distinct seeds
edible-pod pea
vspea plant
4.4

A type of pea plant that makes soft pods you can eat whole

is the standard form that gives pods with a fibrous lining and seeds
Pisum sativum arvense
vspea plant
  • Specialized
9.9

A pea plant grown for animal feed and to make soil better

is the species usually cultivated for edible green seeds for people
Pisum arvense
vspea plant
  • Specialized
9.0

A pea plant grown for animal feed, often used to feed cows and sheep

is the plant typically grown for its fresh edible seeds
Austrian winter pea
vspea plant
  • Specialized
6.6

A plant grown in cool areas to feed animals and improve soil

is the general food crop form rather than a climate-specific forage

Surface Forms

pea plant singular
pea plants plural

Morphology

pea + plant

The meaning 'a plant that produces peas' is a direct, compositional combination of 'pea' (the crop/seed) and 'plant' (a living organism), so the overall sense is immediately derivable from the constituents. Noun–noun compounding of this type is a common and transparent pattern across many languages, making it easily inferable by a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Pea plant simply names the plant that grows peas: the word pea is the round seed and plant is the living green stem with leaves and pods, so picture a small green plant full of round peas, and that's why it means 'a plant that produces edible peas'.