bean

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See also: Bean and bean-

English

lima beans
coffee beans
vanilla beans

Etymology

From Middle English bene, from Old English bēan (bean, pea, legume), 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), Danish bønne (bean), Icelandic baun (bean), Latin faba (bean), Russian боб (bob, bean), Serbo-Croatian бо̏б/bȍb. Doublet of fava.

Pronunciation

Noun

bean (plural beans)

  1. 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); [] .
  2. The large edible seed of such a plant.
  3. (specifically) The edible seed of the broad bean.
  4. The edible seedpod of such a plant.
  5. (by extension) The bean-like seed of certain other plants, especially coffee; coffee in the general.
  6. (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.
  7. (slang) The head or brain.
    • 1959, Maxwell Droke, You and the World to Come (page 173)
      Now, there was a perfectly sound forecast for you. Certainly a case of using the old bean. The surmise was perfectly logical.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XI and XV:
      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.
  8. (British, slang, archaic) A guinea coin.
  9. (British, slang, chiefly in the negative) Money.
    I haven't got a bean.
  10. (slang) The clitoris.
    • 2010, Cynthia W. Gentry & Dana Fredst, What Women Really Want in Bed: The Surprising Secrets Women Wish Men Knew about Sex, Quiver (2010), →ISBN, page 64:
      For one, don't stage a full-frontal assault on her bean.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bean.
  11. (software) Clipping of JavaBean.
    • 2014 April 24, “JavaBeans: JavaBeans API”, in Wikipedia[1], retrieved 2014-04-25:
      AppletInitializer Methods in this interface are used to initialize Beans that are also applets.“
    • 2010, “Class SelectionInList”, in Twister Data Framework[2], retrieved 2014-04-25:
      „The SelectionInList uses three ValueModels to hold the list, the selection and selection index and provides bound bean properties for these models. You can access, observe and replace these ValueModels. This is useful to connect a SelectionInList with other ValueModels; for example you can use the SelectionInList's selection holder as bean channel for a PresentationModel. Since the SelectionInList is a ValueModel, it is often used as bean channel. See the Binding tutorial classes for examples on how to connect a SelectionInList with a PresentationModel.“

Usage notes

Beans and peas are sometimes misidentified with one another; they are both legumes (belong to the family Fabaceae) and seeds. Initially bean referred to broad bean seeds, this was later extended to other seeds belonging to the New World genus Phaseolus (runner beans, lima beans etc.). Some other non-Fabaceae plants (coffee, cocoa, vanilla) are referred to as beans because of their resemblance to ordinary beans.

Peas are a type of bean with smaller, round seeds in the pod, in contrast to 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

software: JavaBeans

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.
    The pitcher beaned the batter, rather than letting him hit another home run.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IX and XI:
      Though I shall have to exercise an iron self-restraint to keep me from beaning that pie-faced little hornswoggler Mrs Bertram Wooster, nee Wickham, with the shaker.
      [...]
      dudgeon might easily lead her to reach for the ginger ale bottle and bean me with it.

Further reading

  • bean on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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Anagrams


Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bʲanˠ/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Cois Fharraige" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /bʲæːnˠ/

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
  3. (of women, girls) one
Declension
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From a conflation of Old Irish benaid (beat, strike) and boingid (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

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
bean bhean mbean
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading


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

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *baunō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰabʰ- (bean). Cognate with Old Frisian bāne, bām (West Frisian bean), Old Saxon bōna (Low German Bohn), Dutch boon, Old High German bōna (German Bohne), Old Norse baun (Danish bønne, Swedish böna).

Pronunciation

Noun

bēan f (nominative plural bēana or bēane)

  1. bean (specifically the broad bean)

Descendants


Polish

Etymology

From French béjaune.[1]

Noun

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

References

Further reading


Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

bean f (genitive singular mnatha or mnà, plural mnathan)

  1. woman, wife

Declension

Case Singular Plural
Nominative bean mnathan
Vocative bhean mhnathan
Genitive mnatha/mnà mnathan
Dative mnaoi mnathan

Derived terms

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical Lenition
bean bhean
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “bean”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎[3], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ben”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

West Frisian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Frisian bāne, from Proto-Germanic *baunō.

Pronunciation

Noun

bean c (plural beanen, diminutive beantsje)

  1. bean

Further reading

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