bean

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

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. (Britain, slang, archaic) A guinea coin.
  9. (Britain, slang, usually 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 examples of usage of this term, see Citations:bean.
  11. (software) Clipping of JavaBean.
    • 2014 April 24, “JavaBeans: JavaBeans API”, in Wikipedia‎, 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, 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
guinea coin — see guinea

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

Anagrams

Irish

Pronunciation

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
Declension of bean

Irregular

Bare forms

Case 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

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an bhean na mná
Genitive na mná na mban
Dative leis an mbean; don bhean
leis an mnaoi; don mhnaoi (archaic or dialectal)		 leis na mná
leis na mnáibh (archaic)
Derived terms
  • áilleagán mná (“useless pretty woman”)
  • ainscian mná, maistín mná, ropaire mná, stiúireachán mná (“virago”)
  • alaisceach mná f (“big strong woman”)
  • bean abhrais (“spinner”)
  • bean aimrid (“barren woman”)
  • bean chabhrach, bean ghlúine (“midwife”)
  • bean chaointe (“keening woman”) (at wake, funeral)
  • bean chéile (“wife”)
  • bean choibhche (“mistress”)
  • bean choimhdeachta (“lady's maid, lady-in-waiting; chaperon”)
  • bean choiteann (“prostitute”, euphemism, literally “common woman”)
  • bean chrosach (“palmist, fortune-teller”)
  • bean Éireannach, Éireannach mná (“Irishwoman”)
  • bean feasa (“wise woman, fortune-teller”)
  • bean fuála, bean snáthaide (“needlewoman”)
  • bean ghaoil (“female relative”)
  • bean lóistín (“landlady”)
  • bean luí (“concubine”)
  • bean mic (“daughter-in-law”)
  • bean níocháin (“washerwoman”)
  • bean rialta (“nun”)
  • bean seoil, bean seolta (“woman in childbirth, woman in labour”)
  • bean shingil (“spinster”)
  • bean sí (“banshee, fairy woman”)
  • bean siúil (“travelling woman”)
  • bean sráide (“prostitute”, euphemism, literally “street woman”)
  • bean thíosach (“good housewife, thrifty woman”)
  • bean tí (“housewife; housekeeper”)
  • bean tíre, bean tuaithe (“countrywoman”)
  • bean uasal (“lady”)
  • bunbhean (“middle-aged woman; low-sized woman”)
  • callaire mná (“scold”)
  • dea-bhean (“good woman; kindly, virtuous, woman; good wife”)
  • dochtúir ban, lia ban (“gynaecologist”)
  • dochtúir mná (“woman doctor”)
  • éigean mná (“rape”)
  • fuadach ban (“abduction (of women)”)
  • fuathaitheoir ban (“misogynist”, literally “woman-hater”)
  • liacht bhan (“gynaecology”)
  • macaomh mná (“girl, young woman”)
  • mná f pl (“ladies”) (toilets)
  • puisbhean (“aging spinster”)
  • raibiléir mná (“harlot, hussy”)
  • scafaire mná (“strapping girl”)
  • seanbhean (“old woman”)
  • siollaire mná (“strong comely woman”)

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
First Conjugation (A)
singular plural relative autonomous
first second third first second third
indicative present beanaim beanann tú;
beanair†		 beanann sé, sí beanaimid beanann sibh beanann siad;
beanaid†		 a bheanann; a bheanas /
a mbeanann*; a mbeanas*		 beantar
past bhean mé; bheanas bhean tú; bheanais bhean sé, sí bheanamar; bhean muid bhean sibh; bheanabhair bhean siad; bheanadar a bhean /
ar bhean*		 beanadh
past habitual bheanainn / mbeanainn‡‡ bheantá / mbeantᇇ bheanadh sé, sí / mbeanadh sé, s퇇 bheanaimis; bheanadh muid / mbeanaimis‡‡; mbeanadh muid‡‡ bheanadh sibh / mbeanadh sibh‡‡ bheanaidís; bheanadh siad / mbeanaidís‡‡; mbeanadh siad‡‡ a bheanadh /
a mbeanadh*		 bheantaí / mbeanta퇇
future beanfaidh mé;
beanfad		 beanfaidh tú;
beanfair†		 beanfaidh sé, sí beanfaimid;
beanfaidh muid		 beanfaidh sibh beanfaidh siad;
beanfaid†		 a bheanfaidh; a bheanfas /
a mbeanfaidh*; a mbeanfas*		 beanfar
conditional bheanfainn / mbeanfainn‡‡ bheanfá / mbeanfᇇ bheanfadh sé, sí / mbeanfadh sé, s퇇 bheanfaimis; bheanfadh muid / mbeanfaimis‡‡; mbeanfadh muid‡‡ bheanfadh sibh / mbeanfadh sibh‡‡ bheanfaidís; bheanfadh siad / mbeanfaidís‡‡; mbeanfadh siad‡‡ a bheanfadh /
a mbeanfadh*		 bheanfaí / mbeanfa퇇
subjunctive 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 beanaim bean beanadh sé, sí beanaimis beanaigí;
beanaidh†		 beanaidís — beantar
verbal noun beant
past participle beanta

* Indirect relative
† Archaic or dialect form
‡‡ Dependent form used with particles that trigger eclipsis

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

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
  • IPA(key): /bæːɑ̯n/

Noun

bēan f (nominative plural bēana or bēane)

  1. bean (specifically the broad bean)

Descendants

Polish

Etymology

From French béjaune.[1]

Noun

bean m anim

  1. (archaic) greenhorn
  2. (archaic) rude person[1]

Synonyms

References
  1. Brückner, Aleksander (1927), “bean”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish): “‘fryc’, cham’, z gwary żakowskiej, łac. beanus z franc. béjaune, ‘żółtodziób’”

Further reading
  • bean in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

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

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [b̥ɛn], /pɛn/

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
RadicalLenition
beanbhean
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

West Frisian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /bɪə̯n/

Noun

bean c (plural beanen, diminutive beantsje)

  1. bean

Alternative forms

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