Full of Beans and Spill the Beans Are Unrelated
A bean is the seed of a legume plant. Two common idioms use the word in quite different ways.
A bean is the edible seed of a leguminous plant. Two idioms use it very differently: *full of beans* means energetic, from horses fed on beans for extra vigour, while *spill the beans* means to reveal a secret and is American from about 1919. Neither borrowed from the other. Beans fix nitrogen in the soil through bacteria in their roots, which is why crop rotations have relied on them for centuries. A *bean* is also slang for a coin or a head.
- A legume seed. *Broad beans.*
- Full of beans — lively. *Full of beans.*
- Spill the beans — reveal a secret. *Spill the beans.*
- Nitrogen fixing — enriching soil. *Nitrogen fixing.*
- Old English — *bean*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bean | A bean. |
| Plural | beans | Beans. |
| Compound | beanstalk | A beanstalk. |
| Related | legume | A legume. |
| Old English | bean | A bean. |
- Soak the beans overnight.Cooking.
- The children were full of beans.Idiom.
- Beans enrich the soil.Farming.
Why beans enrich soil
- Rhizobia bacteria live in nodules on the roots
- They convert nitrogen from the air into a usable form
- The plant feeds them sugars in exchange
- Nitrogen remains in the soil after harvest
- Crop rotations have exploited this for centuries
Old English *bean*, of Germanic origin, related to Dutch *boon* and German *Bohne*.
Where does full of beans come from?
From horses, who were fed beans for extra energy. The phrase describes the resulting liveliness.
How do beans enrich soil?
Bacteria in their root nodules convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form plants can use, and some remains after harvest.