bean

Pronunciation

• IPA: /biːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English bēan (“bean, pea, legume”) (about 1000; 940 in the OED),^[2][3][4] from *baunō,^[2][4][5] cognate with Old Norse baun, Dutch boon and German Bohne.^[2][4][5] Merriam-Webster and Etymonline relate it to Latin faba, bean, and Ancient Greek φακός (phakós), lentil,^[6][4] but Barnhart finds no further cognates and Hoad calls it of unknown origin;^[2][5] de Vaan thinks the Italic, Slavic and Germanic words are probably independent loans from a European substrate word *bab-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plant, 940, and its smooth kidney-shaped seed, about 1000;^[3] in Anglo-Saxon times chiefly varieties of broad bean.^[7]

Semantic evolution

As a type of something of little value bean is from about 1300,^[4] and not worth a hill of beans from 1863.^[4] The seeds of other plants, such as the coffee bean, have been called beans since 1398.^[3] The slang sense, the head, is from 1905, American baseball slang in bean ball,^[2][4] and the verb, to hit on the head, from 1910.^[2][4] Full of beans, lively, is from the mid-19th century and first referred to horses fed on beans.^[7] Spill the beans is an American expression of the early 20th century,^[7] and bean counter is recorded by 1971.^[4]

Timeline

• 940 – the plant.^[3]
• c. 1300 – a thing of little value.^[4]
• 1398 – seeds of other plants.^[3]
• mid-19th century – full of beans.^[7]
• 1905 – the head (slang).^[2][4]
• 1971 – bean counter.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The edible seed or pod of various leguminous plants, such as the kidney bean or broad bean.
2. A plant that bears such seeds.
3. A seed of other plants that looks like a bean: coffee beans.
4. (slang) The head.

Verb

1. (informal) To hit on the head, especially with a pitched ball.

Word family

• beanlike

Related words

• beanfeast
• beano
• beanpole

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press