garbanzo

English

A bowl of prepared garbanzos

Etymology

From Spanish garbanzo, initially borrowed as garvance in the 17th c. and anglicized as calavance (“chickpea; any kind of bean or pulse”). The original garbanzo was re-established in the 19th c., primarily via American Spanish. The Spanish garbanzo is from Old Spanish through Early Modern Spanish garbanço, from Old Spanish arvanço, which is of uncertain origin, presumably influenced by garroba (“carob fruit”) and galbana (“small pea; a variety of pea”), which is borrowed from Arabic جلبان‎ (“peas”). Other theories for the origin of garbanzo include Basque garbantzu conmpounding garau (“seed”) +‎ antzu (“dry”) and the Ancient Greek ἐρέβινθος (erébinthos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɑɹˈbɑnzoʊ/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gar‧ban‧zo

Noun

garbanzo (plural garbanzos)

1. An edible pulse, Cicer arietinum, of the family Leguminosae or Fabaceae and subfamilies Faboideae or Papilionoideae, with white or purple-blue flowers and small feathery leaves on both sides of the stem and pods containing two to three peas.
2. A seed of this plant; the chickpea.

Translations

edible pulse

• Estonian: kikerhernes
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Kichererbse (de) f
• Hungarian: csicseriborsó (hu)
• Italian: cece (it) m
• Portuguese: grão-de-bico (pt) m
• Romanian: năut (ro) m
• Russian: нут (ru) m (nut)
• Slovene: čičerika f
• Spanish: garbanzo (es) m

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Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish through Early Modern Spanish garbanço, from Old Spanish arvanço, which is of uncertain origin, presumably influenced by garroba (“carob fruit”) and galbana (“small pea; a variety of pea”), which is borrowed from Arabic جلبان‎ (“peas”). Other theories for the origin of garbanzo include Basque garbantzu compounding garau (“seed”) +‎ antzu (“dry”) and the Ancient Greek ἐρέβινθος (erébinthos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ɡaɾˈbanθo/ [ɡaɾˈβ̞ãn̟.θo]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /ɡaɾˈbanso/ [ɡaɾˈβ̞ãn.so]

• Audio (Spain)

  (file)

• (Spain) Rhymes: -anθo
• (Latin America) Rhymes: -anso
• Hyphenation: gar‧ban‧zo

Noun

garbanzo m (plural garbanzos)

1. chickpea; garbanzo (plant, seed)
2. (figuratively) bottom dollar, dosh

Derived terms

• ganarse los garbanzos
• garbanzo negro

Descendants

• → Basque: garbantzu
• → English: garbanzo, calavance

Further reading

• “garbanzo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014