legume

/ˈleɡjuːm/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈleɡjuːm/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈle-ˌgyüm li-ˈgyüm/ (ame, mw)

legume — noun

  • legumesingular
  • legumesplural

1. a kind of plant whose seeds grow inside long cases called pods — for example, pe

1.名詞C1
釋義

a kind of plant whose seeds grow inside long cases called pods — for example, peas, beans, lentils, and clover all belong to this group.

例句

Quan's grandmother grows several legumes in her vegetable garden every spring.

countable: a legume / legumes (the plant)

Farmers often plant a legume after wheat because it puts nitrogen back into the soil.

typical agricultural context: rotating a legume with cereal crops

同義詞
  • pulse crop

    narrower — refers mainly to legumes grown for dried seeds (beans, lentils, chickpeas)

  • leguminous plant

    formal/scientific term, common in textbooks

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 2: this sense names the living plant, while sense 2 names the pod or seed people eat. A sentence about growing, planting, or rotating crops takes sense 1; a sentence about cooking, eating, or buying dried beans takes sense 2.

常見錯誤

❌I bought a bag of legumes at the farm to plant in my garden.
✅I bought a bag of legume seeds at the farm to plant in my garden.
💡sense 1 is the whole growing plant, not the seed you sow.

2. the pod, or the dry seed inside the pod, of a plant such as a bean, pea, or lent

2.名詞C1
釋義

the pod, or the dry seed inside the pod, of a plant such as a bean, pea, or lentil — usually cooked and eaten as food.

例句

Esme adds legumes such as lentils and chickpeas to almost every soup she makes.

typical food register: legumes as a healthy ingredient

Doctors often tell patients to eat more legumes instead of red meat.

collocation: eat / eating more legumes (health advice context)

同義詞
  • pulse

    British/agricultural term, refers specifically to the dried edible seed (lentils, dry peas, beans)

  • bean

    common everyday word; covers many but not all legumes

用法筆記

Subject is usually a person preparing or eating food, or the noun appears as the object of verbs like eat, cook, soak, or boil. Distinguish from sense 1 (the living plant): if you can substitute 'beans and lentils' naturally, you are in sense 2.

常見錯誤

❌She watered the legumes in the kitchen.
✅She watered the legume plants in the kitchen.
💡once the seeds are picked or dried, you no longer water them; use 'legume plants' for sense 1.