bean

See also: Bean, bean-, and beán

English

Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris, noun sense 2)
Toe beans of a cat (noun sense 13)

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.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈbi(ː)n/, [ˈbɪin]
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Rhymes: -iːn
    • Hyphenation: bean
    • Homophones: (dialectal) been, being

    Noun

    bean (plural beans)

    2. Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.
      Coordinate term: pea
      • 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.
    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
      • 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.
    14. (slang) The human clitoris.
      • 2010, Cynthia W. Gentry, Dana Fredst, What Women Really Want in Bed: The Surprising Secrets Women Wish Men Knew about Sex, Quiver, published 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.
    16. (slang, often endearing) A person; especially, a baby.
      • 2000 April 9, Richard G Cheek, “Apologies, DimWit Dana”, in talk.politics.guns (Usenet):
        Sparky is a good bean, even if he is a carpet-bagging bean at that.
      • 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.
      • 2007, Alex Bradley, Hot Lunch, Penguin, →ISBN:
        "Good, because we like you. You're okay. You're a good bean." "I never thought I'd be friends with a cheerleader," I said.
    18. (UK, slang, archaic) A guinea coin or sovereign.
    20. (UK, slang, chiefly in the negative) Money.
      I haven't got a bean.
    22. (Java programming language) Clipping of JavaBean.
      • 2017, Iuliana Cosmina, Rob Harrop, Chris Schaefer, Clarence Ho, Pro Spring 5, 5th edition, Apress, →ISBN, page 131:
        The singerOne bean has values for both the name and age properties, so it passes through the init() method with absolutely no changes.
    23. (slang) Any form of tablet, especially benzedrine (benny).
      • 2022, Sean Thor Conroe, Fuccboi‎[2], Hachette, →ISBN:
        Once the bean kicked in I started wilding.
    25. (typically in the plural, colloquial) Clipping of 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. 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.
    • 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.

    Hyponyms

    software: JavaBeans

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • Tok Pisin: bin
    • → Fiji Hindi: biin

    Translations

    Verb

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

    1. (transitive, baseball) To hit with a projectile, especially a deliberately aimed blow to the head.
      The pitcher beaned the batter, rather than letting him hit another home run.
      • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, “IX–XI”, in Jeeves in the Offing:
        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.
      • 2006, Michael Lupica, chapter 10, in Heat, New York: Puffin Books, →ISBN, page 69:
        He missed with his first two pitches of the bottom of the sixth, the Clippers still holding on to their 2–1 lead. Maybe I'm having a delayed reaction, he thought, going behind the mound to rub up a baseball they’d been using for three innings. He had been beaned. He could never understand that expression, either. Did that mean your head was a bean? Or the ball? Even now, following the twists and turns of English made him feel like he was trying to read one of those subway maps they had on the walls of the trains. Now all his teammates cared about was if he was going to bean Justin or not.

    Further reading

    Anagrams

    Basque

    Noun

    bean

    1. inessive singular of be

    Gagauz

    Pronoun

    bean (definite accusative beni, plural biz)

    1. obsolete spelling of bän

    Further reading

    • Ciachir, Mihail (1938), “bean”, in Dicționar gagauzo (tiurco)–român pentru gagauzii din Basarabia (in Romanian), Chișinău, page 14

    Irish

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

      PIE word
      *gʷḗn

      From Middle Irish ben, from Old Irish ben,[5] from Proto-Celtic *benā, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn.

      Noun

      bean f (genitive singular mná, nominative plural mná)

      1. woman
      2. wife
      Declension
      Declension of bean (irregular)
      bare forms
      singular plural
      nominative bean mná
      vocative a bhean a mhná
      genitive mná ban
      dative bean
      mnaoi (archaic or dialectal)       		mná
      mnáibh (archaic)
      forms with the definite article
      singular plural
      nominative an bhean na mná
      genitive na mná na mban
      dative leis an mbean
      don bhean
      leis an mnaoi (archaic or dialectal)
      don mhnaoi (archaic or dialectal)       		leis na mná
      leis na mnáibh (archaic)
      Derived terms
      • áilleagán mná (“useless pretty woman”)
      • alaisceach mná f (“big strong woman”)
      • bean abhrais (“spinner”)
      • bean aimrid (“barren woman”)
      • bean an tí (“female householder”)
      • bean chabhrach (“midwife”)
      • bean chaointe (“keening woman”)
      • bean chéile (“wife”)
      • bean choibhche (“mistress”)
      • bean choimhdeachta (“lady's maid”)
      • bean choiteann (“prostitute”)
      • bean chrosach (“palmist, fortune-teller”)
      • bean Domhnaigh (“lazy, well-dressed woman”, literally “Sunday woman”)
      • bean feasa (“wise woman, fortune-teller”)
      • bean fuála (“needlewoman”)
      • bean ghaoil (“female relative”)
      • bean ghlúine (“midwife”)
      • bean lóistín (“landlady”)
      • bean luí (“concubine”)
      • bean níocháin (“washerwoman”)
      • bean rialta (“nun”)
      • bean seoil (“woman in childbirth”)
      • bean seolta (“woman in childbirth”)
      • bean sí (“banshee, fairy woman”)
      • bean siúil (“travelling woman”)
      • bean snáthaide (“needlewoman”)
      • bean sráide (“prostitute”)
      • bean thíosach (“good housewife”)
      • bean tí (“housewife; housekeeper”)
      • bean tíre (“countrywoman”)
      • bean tuaithe (“countrywoman”)
      • bean uasal (“lady”)
      • bunbhean (“middle-aged woman”)
      • callaire mná (“scold”)
      • dochtúir ban (“gynaecologist”)
      • drochbhean (“bad woman”)
      • éigean mná (“rape”)
      • lia ban (“gynaecologist”)
      • liacht bhan (“gynaecology”)
      • macaomh mná (“girl, young woman”)
      • maistín mná (“virago”)
      • ógbhean (“young woman”)
      • puisbhean (“aging spinster”)
      • raibiléir mná (“harlot, hussy”)
      • ropaire mná (“virago”)
      • scafaire mná (“strapping girl”)
      • seanbhean (“old woman”)
      • siollaire mná (“strong comely woman”)
      • stiúireachán mná (“virago”)

      Pronoun

      bean

      1. one (of women, girls)
        Tá triúr iníonacha agam; tá bean acu trasinscneach.
        I have three daughters; one of them is transgender.

      Further reading

      • Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “bean”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
      • Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904), “bean”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla [Irish and English Dictionary], 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 60
      • “bean”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026

      Etymology 2

        From Old Irish benaid (“beat, strike”).[6]

        Verb

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

        1. (ambitransitive) alternative form of bain
        Inflection
        Conjugation of bean (first conjugation – A)
        indicative singular plural direct relative autonomous
        first second third first second third
        present beanaim beanann tú;
        beanair†         		beanann sé, sí beanaimid; beanann muid beanann sibh beanann siad;
        beanaid†         		a bheanann; a bheanas beantar
        past bhean mé; bheanas bhean tú; bheanais bhean sé, sí bheanamar; bhean muid bhean sibh; bheanabhair bhean siad; bheanadar a bhean beanadh
        past habitual bheanainn /
        beanainn‡         		bheantá /
        beantᇠ        		bheanadh sé, sí /
        beanadh sé, sí‡         		bheanaimis; bheanadh muid /
        beanaimis‡; beanadh muid‡         		bheanadh sibh /
        beanadh sibh‡         		bheanaidís; bheanadh siad /
        beanaidís‡; beanadh siad‡         		a bheanadh bheantaí /
        beantaí‡
        singular plural direct relative autonomous
        first second third first second third
        future beanfaidh mé;
        beanfad         		beanfaidh tú;
        beanfair†         		beanfaidh sé, sí beanfaimid;
        beanfaidh muid         		beanfaidh sibh beanfaidh siad;
        beanfaid†         		a bheanfaidh; a bheanfas beanfar
        conditional bheanfainn /
        beanfainn‡         		bheanfá /
        beanfᇠ        		bheanfadh sé, sí /
        beanfadh sé, sí‡         		bheanfaimis; bheanfadh muid /
        beanfaimis‡; beanfadh muid‡         		bheanfadh sibh /
        beanfadh sibh‡         		bheanfaidís; bheanfadh siad /
        beanfaidís‡; beanfadh siad‡         		a bheanfadh bheanfaí /
        beanfaí‡
        subjunctive singular plural direct relative autonomous
        first second third first second third
        present go mbeana mé;
        go mbeanad†         		go mbeana tú;
        go mbeanair†         		go mbeana sé, sí go mbeanaimid;
        go mbeana muid         		go mbeana sibh go mbeana siad;
        go mbeanaid†         		— go mbeantar
        past dá mbeanainn dá mbeantá dá mbeanadh sé, sí dá mbeanaimis;
        dá mbeanadh muid         		dá mbeanadh sibh dá mbeanaidís;
        dá mbeanadh siad         		— dá mbeantaí
        imperative singular plural direct relative autonomous
        first second third first second third
        — beanaim bean beanadh sé, sí beanaimis beanaigí;
        beanaidh†         		beanaidís — beantar
        past participle beanta
        verbal noun beant

        † archaic or dialect form
        ‡ dependent form

        Mutation

        Mutated forms of bean
        radical lenition eclipsis
        bean bhean mbean

        Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
        All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

        References

        1. ^ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931), Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry [Phonetics of an Irish dialect of Kerry] (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, § 107, page 58
        2. ^ Finck, F. N. (1899), Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect] (in German), Zweiter Band: Wörterbuch [Second volume: Dictionary], Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 38
        3. ^ Mhac an Fhailigh, Éamonn (1968), The Irish of Erris, Co. Mayo: A Phonemic Study, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, section 207, page 48
        4. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906), A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 244, page 88
        5. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ben”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
        6. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “benaid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

        Further reading

        • Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “bean”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla [Irish and English Dictionary], 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 88; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
        • Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “bean”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

        Middle English

        Etymology 1

        Verb

        bean

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

        Etymology 2

        Noun

        bean

        1. alternative form of bene (“bean”)

        Old English

        Alternative forms

        Etymology

          From Proto-West Germanic *baunu.

          Cognates

          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

          • IPA(key): /bæ͜ɑːn/
          • Rhymes: -æ͜ɑːn

          Noun

          bēan f (nominative plural bēana or bēane)

          1. bean (especially the broad bean)

          Declension

          Strong ō-stem:

          singular plural
          nominative bēan bēana, bēane
          accusative bēane bēana, bēane
          genitive bēane bēana
          dative bēane bēanum

          Descendants

          Polish

          Etymology

            Borrowed from French béjaune.[1]

            Pronunciation

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

            Noun

            bean m animal

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

            References

            1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Brückner, Aleksander (1927), “bean”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna: “‘fryc’, cham’, z gwary żakowskiej, łac. beanus z franc. béjaune, ‘żółtodziób’”

            Further reading

            • “bean”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[3] (in Polish)

            Scottish Gaelic

            Etymology

            From Middle Irish ben,[1] from Old Irish ben. Cognates include Irish bean and Manx ben.

            Pronunciation

            Noun

            bean f

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

            Declension

            Declension of bean (irregular feminine noun)
            indefinite
            singular plural
            nominative bean mnathan
            mnai (archaic)
            genitive mnà
            mnatha
            mnathadh (archaic, dialectal)             		ban
            dative bean
            mnaoi (archaic)             		mnathan
            mnathaibh (archaic)
            definite
            singular plural
            nominative (a') bhean (na) mnathan
            (na) mnai (archaic)
            genitive (na) mnà
            (na) mnatha
            (na) mnathadh (archaic, dialectal)             		(nam) ban
            dative (a') bhean
            (a') mhnaoi (archaic)             		(na) mnathan
            (na) mnathaibh (archaic)
            vocative (a) bhean (a) mhnathan

            Derived terms

            Mutation

            Mutation of bean
            radical lenition
            bean bhean

            Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
            All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

            References

            1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ben”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
            2. ^ John MacPherson (1945) The Gaelic dialect of North Uist (Thesis)‎[1], Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh
            3. ^ Oftedal, M. (1956), A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap

            Further reading

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

            Swedish

            Noun

            bean

            1. definite singular of bea

            West Frisian

            Alternative forms

            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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