bean

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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: bēn, IPA^(key): /biːn/

• Audio (US)

  (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 seed pods.
   • 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. The edible seed pod of such a plant.
4. The bean-like seed of certain other plants, especially coffee; coffee in the general.
5. 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.
6. (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.

7. (Britain, slang, archaic) A guinea coin.
8. (Britain, slang, usually in the negative) Money.

   I haven't got a bean.

9. (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.
10. (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.“

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.

Anagrams

• Bane, Bena, bane, nabe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʲanˠ/
• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /bʲæːn̪ˠ/

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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

Mutation

Further reading

• "bean" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “ben” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• “benaid” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• “boingid” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• “bean” in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, Irish Texts Society, 2nd ed., 1927, by Patrick S. Dinneen.
• Entries containing “bean” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

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)

Etymology

From French béjaune.^[1]

Noun

bean m anim

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

References

Further reading

• bean in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [b̊ɛn], /pɛn/

Noun

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

1. woman, wife

Mutation

References

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• “ben” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Etymology

From Old Frisian bāne, from Proto-Germanic *baunō. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Boone, English bean, German Low German Bohn, Dutch boon, German Bohne.

Noun

bean c (plural beanen)

1. bean