Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sweet potato

/ˈswit pəˈteɪ.toʊ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.05 in modern English

Syllables: sweet- pota-to
IPA: /ˈswit pəˈteɪ.toʊ/

16

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A tropical perennial American vine, Ipomoea batatas, having a fleshy tuber.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

The tuber of this plant cooked as a vegetable.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"The sweet potato is the article referred to as potato by Shakespeare and other English writers, previous to the middle of the seventeenth century."
"I go back to the kitchen and find a knife, still smeared with sweet potato and bits of pheasant meat."

Etymology

From sweet + potato. Compare Dutch zoete pataat, zoete bataat (“sweet potato”), German Süßbatate (“sweet potato”), Swedish sötpotatis (“sweet potato”), Norwegian søtpotet (“sweet potato”), Faroese søtpotta (“sweet potato”).

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈswit pəˈteɪ.toʊ/
British English: /ˈswiːt pəˈteɪ.təʊ/

Usage

Inflected Forms

sweet potatoes (plural) sweetpotato (alternative)

Phrases

Cuban sweet potato Japanese sweet potato Okinawan sweet potato sweet-potatoey sweet-potato ring rot sweet potato vine sweet-potato whitefly tropical sweet potato

Frequently Paired Words

yam

Synonyms

batata Ipomoea yam camote kumara kumera ocarina sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas

Questions

How do you pronounce sweet potato?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈswit pəˈteɪ.toʊ/.
What does sweet potato mean?: A tropical perennial American vine, Ipomoea batatas, having a fleshy tuber.
Where does sweet potato come from?: From sweet + potato. Compare Dutch zoete pataat, zoete bataat (“sweet potato”), German Süßbatate (“sweet potato”), Swedish sötpotatis (“sweet potato”), Norwegian søtpotet (“sweet potato”), Faroese søtpotta (“sweet potato”).

How to pronounce sweet potato

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sweet potato”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈswit pəˈteɪ.toʊ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “sweet potato”.
Repeat and practice — Say “sweet potato” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.