cowpea

American  

[kou-pee] / ˈkaʊˌpi /

noun

1. a plant, Vigna unguiculata, extensively cultivated in the southern U.S. for forage, soil improvement, etc.

2. the seed of this plant, used for food.

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cowpea British  

/ ˈkaʊˌpiː /

noun

1. a leguminous tropical climbing plant, Vigna sinensis, producing long pods containing edible pealike seeds: grown for animal fodder and sometimes as human food

2. Also called: black-eyed pea.  the seed of this plant

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Etymology

Origin of cowpea

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20; cow ¹ + pea ¹

Example Sentences

To make the nanoparticles, the researchers grew black-eyed pea plants in the lab and infected them with cowpea mosaic virus.

From Science Daily • May 13, 2024

Cultures throughout human history have had their own favored intercropping systems with similar synergies, such as tumeric and mango or millet, cowpea and ziziphus, commonly known as red date.

From Salon • Aug. 9, 2023

David Riley, a professor of entomology at the University of Georgia, works with vegetable pests like cowpea curculio, which has decimated the state’s black-eye pea fields.

From Washington Post • Apr. 20, 2019

Between 700 C.E. and 1200 C.E., the researchers found a clear boundary between sites dominated by African crops like pearl millet, cowpea, and sorghum, and those with Asian rice, mung bean, and cotton.

From Science Magazine • May 30, 2016

“You mix the cowpea flour and palm oil, then you steam-cook for hours. You think you can ever get just the cowpea flour? Or just the palm oil?”

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie