Meanings
pea1
plural peas · archaic plural pease · alternative archaic pease
- Any of certain plants of the family Fabaceae: Pisum sativum and others.
- especiallywhen without a qualifierA plant, Pisum sativum, member of the legume (Fabaceae) family.
Below, long rows of peas put forth their white-winged flowers, tempting the small butterflies to flutter round their inanimate likenesses;...
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 277
- cookingThe edible seed of Pisum sativum.
- cookingThe edible seed of various other pea plants.
- Any of several varieties of bean.
peas and rice
1 more example
Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata is what most people call black-eyed peas but some people call black-eyed beans.
- Multicultural London Englishin pluralMoney.
Man's making bare peas.
1 more example
Oh, come on. Help a brother out. People see you coppin', might inspire them. Look, I know you ain't payin' bills right now. Man must have bare peas saved up.
2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Nathan (Simon Manyonda)
pea2
plural peas
- USIndianagamblingAny of the small numbered balls used in a pea shake game.
- abbreviationellipsisastronomyEllipsis of green pea galaxy.
pea3
pea4
PEA5
plural PEAs
- abbreviationinitialismuncountablebiochemistryInitialism of palmitoylethanolamide.
- abbreviationinitialismuncountablemedicineInitialism of pulseless electrical activity.
- abbreviationcountableinitialismbiologyInitialism of preliminary ecological appraisal.
- abbreviationhistoricalinitialismInitialism of Portuguese East Africa.
- abbreviationinitialismhuman sciencesInitialism of Proto-Eastern Algonquian, the proto-language of the Eastern Algonquian languages.
Pea6
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna leguminous plant of the genus Pisum with small white flowers and long green pods containing edible green seeds
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
pea · noun
- Ancient Greekπίσον (píson)
- Latinpisum
- Late Latinpisa
- Old Englishpise
- Middle Englishpese
- Englishpeasebf.
- Englishpea
Back-formation from pease, an original singular reinterpreted as a plural. Further from Middle English pese (“a pea”), from Old English pise, from Latin pisa, pisum, from Ancient Greek πίσον (píson).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →pea · noun
From having the appearance of a pea (see English etymology 1), the edible seed of Pisum sativum, the pea plant.
Full word history & related roots →pea · noun
- Latinpāvō“peacock”
- Proto-Germanic*pāwô“peacock”
- Old Norsepái“peacock”
- Old Englishpēa
- Middle Englishpe
- Englishpea
From Middle English pe, po, poue, pa, paue, from Old English pēa, pāwa (“peacock”) (compare Old English pāwe (“peahen”)) and Old Norse pái (“peacock”), both from Proto-Germanic *pāwô (“peacock”), from Latin pāvō (“peacock”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pau, West Frisian pau, Dutch pauw, German Pfau. Doublet of Pavo.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans ertjie, ert
- ertjieplant
- ertedible seed
- ertjieedible seed
Ancient Greek πίσον, πίσος
- πίσον (píson)plant
- πίσος (písos)edible seed
- πισός (pisós)edible seed
Arabic بَازِلَّاء, بَازِلَّاء
- بَازِلَّاء (bāzillāʔ)plant
- بَازِلَّاء (bāzillāʔ)edible seed
Basque ilar, ilar
- ilarplant
- ilaredible seed
Bengali মটর
- মটর (moṭor)plant
Bulgarian грах
- грах (grah)plant
Catalan pesolera, pèsol
- pesoleraplant
- pèsoledible seed
Chinese Cantonese 青豆
- 青豆edible seed
Chinese Mandarin 豌豆, 豌豆
- 豌豆 (wāndòu)plant
- 豌豆 (wāndòu)edible seed
Czech hrách, hrášek
- hráchplant
- hrášekplant
- hráchedible seed
Danish ært, ært
- ærtplant
- ærtedible seed
Dutch erwt, erwt
- erwtplant
- erwtedible seed
Esperanto pizo
- pizoedible seed
Estonian hernes, hernes
- hernesplant
- hernesedible seed
Finnish herne, herne
- herneplant
- herneedible seed
French pois, pois
- poisplant
- poisedible seed
- petit poisedible seed
German Erbse, Erbse
- Erbseplant
- Erbseedible seed
Greek αρακάς, αρακάς
- αρακάς (arakás)plant
- αρακάς (arakás)edible seed
- μπιζέλι (bizéli)edible seed
- πίσον (píson)edible seed
Hebrew אֲפוּנָה, אֲפוּנָה
- אֲפוּנָה (afuna)plant
- אֲפוּנָה (afuna)edible seed
Hindi मटर, मटर
- मटर (maṭar)plant
- मटर (maṭar)edible seed
Hungarian borsó, borsó
- borsóplant
- borsóedible seed
Icelandic baun, erta
- baunplant
- ertaedible seed
Indonesian ercis
- ercisplant
Irish peasair
- peasairplant
Italian pisello, pisello
- piselloplant
- piselloedible seed
Japanese 豌豆, エンドウ
- 豌豆 (endō)plant
- エンドウ (endō)plant
- 豌豆 (endō)edible seed
- エンドウ (endō)edible seed
- エンドウ豆 (endō-mame)edible seed
Korean 완두, 완두
- 완두 (wandu)plant
- 완두 (wandu)edible seed
Latin pisum, pīsum
- pisumplant
- pīsumedible seed
Latvian zirnis, zirnis
- zirnisplant
- zirnisedible seed
Lithuanian žirnis, žirnis
- žirnisplant
- žirnisedible seed
Malay pis
- pisplant
Norwegian ert, ert
- ertplant
- ertedible seed
Persian نخود, نخود سبز
- نخود (noxowd)plant
- نخود سبز (noxowd-e sabz)plant
- نخود فرنگی (noxowd-e farangi)plant
- نخود (noxod)edible seed
- نخود سبز (noxod-sabz)edible seed
Polish groch, groch
- grochplant
- grochedible seed
Portuguese ervilha, ervilha
- ervilhaplant
- ervilhaedible seed
Punjabi ਮਟਰ
- ਮਟਰ (maṭar)edible seed
Romanian mazăre, mazăre
- mazăreplant
- mazăreedible seed
Russian горо́х, горо́шек
- горо́х (goróx)plant
- горо́шек (goróšek)plant
- горо́х (goróx)edible seed
- горо́шина (goróšina)edible seed
Slovak hrach, hrášok
- hrachplant
- hrášokplant
- hrachedible seed
Spanish guisante, ervilla
- guisanteplant
- ervillaplant
- arvejaplant
- chícharoplant
- alverjaedible seed
- arvejaedible seed
- alverjónedible seed
- chícharoedible seed
- guisanteedible seed
- pésol (also présol)edible seed
- petit pois (petipuá)edible seed
- bisaltoedible seed
- bola rápidain baseball
Swahili dengu
- denguplant
Swedish ärt, ärta
- ärtplant
- ärtaedible seed
Tagalog gisantes
- gisantesplant
Tamil பட்டாணி
- பட்டாணி (paṭṭāṇi)edible seed
Thai ลันเตา, ถั่ว
- ลันเตา (lan-dtao)plant
- ถั่ว (tùua)edible seed
- ลันเตา (lan-dtao)edible seed
Turkish bezelye, bezelye
- bezelyeplant
- bezelyeedible seed
Ukrainian горо́х, горо́шок
- горо́х (horóx)plant
- горо́шок (horóšok)plant
Urdu مٹر, مٹر
- مٹر (maṭar)plant
- مٹر (maṭar)edible seed
Vietnamese đậu, cây đậu
- đậuplant
- cây đậuplant
Welsh pysen
- pysenedible seed
Yiddish אַרבעס
- אַרבעס (arbes)plant
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pea
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
pea. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pea
“pea.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pea. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pea,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pea.
Source: pea on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.