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

The same court had already reversed a similar tax decision of hers, regarding Starbucks’ treatment by Dutch tax authorities, on similar grounds—but that was small potatoes compared with the flagship Apple-Ireland case.

From Fortune

He relays the story of her weekend diet consisting of “baked potatoes and caviar,” at once down-home and sophisticated.

From Washington Blade

Cover and repeat with remaining dough, potato, bacon, cheese, scallions, and 1 tablespoon sesame oil.

From Eater

Picture a big russet potato next to a small fingerling potato, both grown in the same soil and containing the same total amount of iron.

From Nautilus

For instance, a 50-year-old ultramarathoner might have a younger biological age than a 35-year-old couch potato.

From Fortune

Most of the vendors were, like this woman, honorary Jews for the night, not that Jews have a monopoly on potato pancakes.

From The Daily Beast

Esther Choi of Mokbar said she has made Korean potato pancakes called gam ja jun, and Charles Rodriguez of PRINT.

From The Daily Beast

She came to the Latke Festival because she loved any dish so based around the potato.

From The Daily Beast

“I think as the ubiquity of French fries prove, everyone loves a crispy fried potato,” he said in an email.

From The Daily Beast

More clumsily, fireworks stand in for the Big Bang and a potato and peas are invoked to explain relativity.

From The Daily Beast

The Potato is planted very sparingly south of Piedmont, and not so commonly there as in Savoy.

From Project Gutenberg

Wheat gives place to Rye about the same time, and the Potato, at first comparatively rare, becomes universal.

From Project Gutenberg

The boy backed away from him, and stood a little distance off, holding out a nice, juicy potato this time.

From Project Gutenberg

His steps led him now not to the beach, but to the Cemetery of Rocklington, amid the potato-fields.

From Project Gutenberg

All at once there came running through the potato field a black and white dog.

From Project Gutenberg

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.