Potato Comes From a Word for Sweet Potato
A potato is an edible tuber. The name was borrowed from a different plant, and Europe took two centuries to accept it.
A potato is the edible tuber of *Solanum tuberosum*. The name is borrowed: Spanish *patata* came from Taino *batata*, which meant sweet potato, an unrelated plant. Europe was slow to adopt the potato — it belongs to the nightshade family, its leaves are toxic, and suspicion delayed widespread cultivation for around two hundred years.
- An edible tuber. *Boiled potatoes.*
- Couch potato — an inactive person. *A couch potato.*
- Hot potato — a controversial issue. *A political hot potato.*
- Small potatoes — something unimportant. *That is small potatoes.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | potato | A baked potato. |
| Plural | potatoes | New potatoes. |
| Species | Solanum tuberosum | Solanum tuberosum. |
| Related | tuber | A swollen tuber. |
| Related | nightshade | Deadly nightshade. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Potatoes are nightshades.Along with tomatoes and aubergines.
- Green potatoes contain solanine.Which is toxic.
- The plural takes an E.Potatoes, not potatos.
Potato facts
- Nightshade family — related to tomato, aubergine and tobacco
- Solanine — a toxin concentrated in green skin and sprouts
- Andean origin — domesticated in Peru and Bolivia thousands of years ago
- Irish famine — reliance on one variety made the crop catastrophically vulnerable
- Thousands of varieties — still grown in the Andes
From Spanish *patata*, from Taino *batata*, sweet potato — a different plant to which the name was originally applied.
Are green potatoes dangerous?
Green patches indicate solanine, which is toxic in quantity. Cutting away green parts and sprouts is the standard advice.
Why was Europe slow to accept potatoes?
Because they were unfamiliar, belonged to a family known to include poisons, and grew underground, which carried suspicion.