Editing Bean (section)

== Terminology ==

The word "bean" and its Germanic [[cognate]]s (e.g. [[German language|German]] ''[[wikt:Bohne#Noun|Bohne]]'') have existed in common use in [[West Germanic languages]] since before the 12th century,<ref name="MW_Collegiate">{{Citation |author=Merriam-Webster |author-link=Merriam-Webster |title=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |url=http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/collegiate/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 May 2016 |archive-date=10 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010163505/https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/subscriber/login?redirect_to=%2Fcollegiate%2F |url-status=dead }}{{Page needed|date=September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=bean (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/bean |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=27 November 2024}}</ref> referring to [[Vicia faba|broad beans]], [[chickpea]]s, and other pod-borne seeds. This was long before the [[New World]] genus ''[[Phaseolus]]'' was known in Europe.  With the [[Columbian exchange]] of domestic plants between Europe and the Americas, use of the word was extended to pod-borne seeds of ''Phaseolus'', such as the [[common bean]] and the [[runner bean]], and the related genus ''[[Vigna]]''. The term has long been applied generally to seeds of similar form,<ref name="AHD">{{cite dictionary |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://ahdictionary.com/ |access-date=3 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925104737/https://ahdictionary.com/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> such as Old World [[soybean]]s and [[Lupinus|lupins]], and to the fruits or seeds of unrelated plants such as [[coffee bean]]s, [[vanilla|vanilla beans]], [[Ricinus|castor beans]], and [[cocoa bean]]s.<ref name=FAOdef>{{cite web |title=Definition And Classification Of Commodities (See Chapter 4) |publisher=[[FAO]] |year=1994 |url=http://www.fao.org/es/faodef/faodefe.htm |access-date=5 July 2012 |archive-date=12 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012031118/http://www.fao.org/ES/faodef/FAODEFE.HTM |url-status=dead}}</ref>