potato

[ puh-tey-toh, -tuh ]

noun

, plural po·ta·toes.

1. Also called Irish potato, the edible tuber of a cultivated plant, Solanum tuberosum, of the nightshade family.
2. the plant itself.
3. sweet potato ( defs 1, 2 ).

potato

/ pəˈteɪtəʊ /

noun

1. Also calledIrish potatowhite potato
   1. a solanaceous plant, Solanum tuberosum, of South America: widely cultivated for its edible tubers
   2. the starchy oval tuber of this plant, which has a brown or red skin and is cooked and eaten as a vegetable
2. any of various similar plants, esp the sweet potato
3. hot potato slang.
   a delicate or awkward matter

Word History and Origins

Origin of potato¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish patata “potato,” variant of batata “sweet potato,” from Taíno

Word History and Origins

Origin of potato¹

C16: from Spanish patata white potato, from Taino batata sweet potato

Idioms and Phrases

see hot potato ; meat and potatoes ; small beer (potatoes) .

Example Sentences

Aunt Petunia’s secret ingredient, in addition to the potatoes, oil, salt and onions, is love.

From Los Angeles Times

The Swedish checklist recommends potatoes, cabbage, carrots and eggs along with tins of bolognese sauce and prepared blueberry and rosehip soup.

From BBC

In states with abortion bans, such patients are sometimes bounced between hospitals like “hot potatoes,” with health care providers reluctant to participate in treatment that could attract a prosecutor, doctors told ProPublica.

From Salon

There were sweets and potato chips, a treat that had been stored away.

From BBC

Like tomatoes, maize and potatoes, the pumpkin is indigenous to the Americas, with the earliest evidence of pumpkin consumption dating as far back as 8,000BC in Oaxaca, Mexico.

From Salon

Related Words

• yam

What Is The Plural Of Potato?

Plural word for potato

The plural form of potato is potatoes. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -o are also formed this way, including tomato/tomatoes and echo/echoes. 

In some cases, the plurals of words that end in -o that are adopted from another language can be formed by adding either -es or -s, as in mosquito/mosquitoes/mosquitos or mango/mangoes/mangos. However, this is not the case with potato/potatoes. Potatos is an invalid spelling of the plural of potato.