bean

bean

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of bean in English

English Online Dictionary. What means bean‎? What does bean mean?

English

Etymology

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”), West Frisian bean (“bean”), Dutch boon (“bean”), German Bohne (“bean”), Swedish böna (“bean”), Danish bønne (“bean”), Norwegian bønne (“bean”), Icelandic baun (“bean”), Latin faba (“bean”), Russian боб (bob, “bean”), Serbo-Croatian бо̏б/bȍb. Doublet of fava.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: bēn, IPA(key): /biːn/
  • Homophone: been (in some dialects)
  • Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

bean (plural beans)

  2. Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.
    • 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); […] .
  4. The large edible seed of such a plant (for example, a broad bean, navy bean, or garbanzo bean).
  6. The edible seedpod of such a plant.
    Green beans, also called French beans, can be pickled and made into pickled beans.
  8. (by extension) The bean-like seed of certain other plants, such as a vanilla bean or (especially) a coffee bean.
  10. (by extension) An object resembling a pea or bean in shape, often made from plastic or styrofoam and used in large numbers as packing material or as stuffing for beanbags and similar items.
  12. (slang) The head or brain.
    Synonym: noggin
  14. (slang) The human clitoris.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bean.
  16. (slang, often endearing) A person; especially, a baby.
    • 2002 March 21, Yena, "oh my bloody god boys!", microsoft.public.xbox, Usenet:
      i dont want boid (whoever said that) he is mean. boid is a mean bean.
  18. (British, slang, archaic) A guinea coin.
  20. (British, slang, chiefly in the negative) Money.
  22. (Java programming language) Clipping of JavaBean.
  23. (slang) Any form of tablet, especially benzedrine (benny).
  24. (colloquial, chiefly in the plural) A toe bean.

Usage notes

Beans and peas are sometimes misidentified (confused with one another); they are both legumes (belonging to the family Fabaceae) and seeds. The word bean has referred to a wide class of seeds since pre-Columbian times (when only the Eurasian types were known to Germanic language speakers), but, after Columbian contact, it was extended to other seeds belonging to the New World genus Phaseolus (runner beans, lima beans, and so on; see bean § Terminology for details). The fruits or seeds of some other non-Fabaceae plants (e.g., coffee beans, cocoa beans, vanilla beans, castor beans) are also referred to as beans, because of their resemblance to beans as named in the stricter sense.

Peas are a type of bean with smaller, round seeds in the pod, in contrast to the oval or kidney-shaped seeds usually referred to as beans. Because both terms are applied to a wide range of different legumes, the distinction is not always clear: garbanzo bean is a synonym of chickpea.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Fiji Hindi: biin

Translations

Verb

bean (third-person singular simple present beans, present participle beaning, simple past and past participle beaned)

  1. (chiefly baseball) To hit deliberately with a projectile, especially in the head.

Further reading

  • bean on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • Bean (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • “bean n.1”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

  • Bane, Bena, bane, nabe

Basque

Noun

bean

  1. inessive singular of be

Irish

Pronunciation

  • (Munster) IPA(key): /bʲan̪ˠ/
  • (Aran) IPA(key): /bʲæn/
  • (Cois Fharraige) IPA(key): /bʲæːn̪ˠ/
  • (Mayo, Ulster) IPA(key): /bʲanˠ/, /bʲan̪ˠ/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish ben, from Proto-Celtic *benā, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn.

Noun

bean f (genitive singular mná, nominative plural mná)

  1. woman
  2. wife
Declension
Derived terms

Pronoun

bean

  1. one (of women, girls)

Further reading

  • Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “bean”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
  • Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “bean”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 60
  • “bean”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Etymology 2

From a conflation of Old Irish benaid (“beat, strike”) and bongaid (“break, cut”).

Verb

bean (present analytic beanann, future analytic beanfaidh, verbal noun beant, past participle beanta)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) Alternative form of bain
Inflection

Mutation

References

Middle English

Etymology 1

Verb

bean (third-person singular simple present is, present participle beinge, first-/third-person singular past indicative was, past participle beon)

  1. Alternative form of been (“to be”)

Etymology 2

Noun

bean (plural beanen)

  1. Alternative form of bene (“bean”)

Old English

Alternative forms

  • bīen

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *baunu.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bæ͜ɑːn/

Noun

bēan f (nominative plural bēana or bēane)

  1. bean (especially the broad bean)

Declension

Descendants

  • Middle English: bene, beane, beene, beyn, ben, bean
    • English: bean
    • Scots: bein, bene
    • Yola: beanès, beanes, baanès, baanes, banès (plural)

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from French béjaune.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbɛ.an/
  • Rhymes: -ɛan
  • Syllabification: be‧an

Noun

bean m animal

  1. (archaic) greenhorn
    Synonym: żółtodziób
  2. (archaic) rude person
    Synonyms: cham, prostak

References

Further reading

  • bean in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Middle Irish ben, from Old Irish ben. Cognates include Irish bean and Manx ben.

Pronunciation

  • (Lewis) IPA(key): /b̥ɛ̃n/, [b̥æ̃n]
  • (Uist, Barra) IPA(key): /b̥ɛn/

Noun

bean f

  1. wife
  2. (archaic) woman
    Synonym: boireannach

Declension

Derived terms

Mutation

References

Further reading

  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “bean”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎[3], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • Colin Mark (2003) “bean”, in The Gaelic-English dictionary, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 68

Swedish

Noun

bean

  1. definite singular of bea

West Frisian

Alternative forms

  • beane, beanne

Etymology

From Old Frisian bāne, from Proto-West Germanic *baunu.

Cognate with Dutch boon, English bean, German Bohne.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɪə̯n/

Noun

bean c (plural beanen, diminutive beantsje)

  1. bean

Further reading

  • “bean”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.