bean
/ˈbi(ː)n/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.98 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.
noun
The large edible seed of such a plant (for example, a broad bean, navy bean, or garbanzo bean).
noun
The bean-like seed of certain other plants, such as a vanilla bean or (especially) a coffee bean.
Example Sentences
- "2004, T. N. Shivenanda, B. R. V. Iyengar, Phosphorus Management in French Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris L.), Ramdane Dris, S. Mohan Jain (editors), Production Practices and Quality Assessment of Food Crops, Volume 2: Plant Mineral Nutrition and Pesticide Management, page 79, Beans are a large group of leguminous vegetables that serve as a main source of proteins in human diet. This group comprises several species and some of them are Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis); Broad bean (Vicia faba); Cluster bean (Cyamposis tetragonoloba); French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris); […] ."
- "Green beans, also called French beans, can be pickled."
- "Now, there was a perfectly sound forecast for you. Certainly a case of using the old bean. The surmise was perfectly logical."
- "I saw her quiver and kept a wary eye on the ginger ale bottle. But even if she had raised it and brought it down on [my] bean, I couldn't have been more stunned than I was by the words that left her lips. [...] Well, as I say, it was from his fertile bean that the idea sprang."
- "For one, don't stage a full-frontal assault on her bean."
- "Sparky is a good bean, even if he is a carpet-bagging bean at that."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰabʰ-? Proto-Germanic *babnōder.? Proto-Germanic *baunō Proto-West Germanic *baunu Old English bēan Middle English bene English bean From Middle English bene, from Old English bēan, from Proto-West Germanic *baunu, from Proto-Germanic *baunō (“bean”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰabʰ- (“bean”). Cognate with Scots bene, bein (“bean”), North Frisian buan, Saterland Frisian Boone, West Frisian bean, beanne, Dutch boon, German Bohne, Luxembourgish Boun, Danish bønne, Faroese bøn, bøna, Icelandic baun, Norwegian Bokmål bønne, Norwegian Nynorsk bauna, baune, bogna, bønne, Swedish böna, Irish pónaire, Manx poanrey, Scottish Gaelic pònair, Latin faba, Russian боб (bob), Serbo-Croatian bȍb /бо̏б. Doublet of fava.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Slang
- British usage
- Archaic
- Colloquial
- Transitive verb