bean (English)

Where does "bean" come from?

The English noun 'bean' descends directly from Middle English 'bene' and Old English 'bēan'[1]. Going further back, it developed through Proto-West Germanic '*baunu' and Proto-Germanic '*baunō'[1], with roots ultimately tracing to the ancient Proto-Indo-European formation '*bʰabʰ-' meaning 'bean'[1]. This deep linguistic lineage shares connections with various cognates across Germanic and other language families, including German 'Bohne' and Latin 'faba'.

Open questions

The derivation of the Proto-Germanic form from an earlier form and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European is disputed. [4]

Full etymology tree

bean (English), 'Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.'
- inherited bene (Middle English), 'bean'
  - inherited bean (Old English), 'bean (especially the broad bean)'
    - inherited *baunu (Proto-West Germanic), 'bean'
      - inherited *baunō (Proto-Germanic), 'bean'
        derived *babnō (Proto-Germanic)
        derived *bʰabʰ- (Proto-Indo-European)

Ancestors

bene (Middle English)
bean (Old English)
*baunu (Proto-West Germanic)
*baunō (Proto-Germanic)

Cognates and doublets

bønne (Danish)
boon (Dutch)
fava (English)
bøn (Faroese)
Bohne (German)
baun (Icelandic)
pónaire (Irish)
faba (Latin)
Boun (Luxembourgish)
poanrey (Manx)
buan (North Frisian)
bønne (Norwegian Bokmål)

Descendants and derived words

African locust bean (English)
Banstead (English)
bean bag (English)
bean-bag (English)
beanbag (English)
bean ball (English)
beanball (English)
beanbrain (English)
beanbrawl (English)
beanbreath (English)
beanburger (English)
bean-butter (English)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris