garbanzo

noun

gar·​ban·​zo gär-ˈbän-(ˌ)zō 

also -ˈban-

plural garbanzos

: chickpea

Examples of garbanzo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The site declares that beans reign supreme in blue zones and stand at the heart of longevity eating everywhere, pointing to black beans in Nicoya, lentils and garbanzo and white beans across the Mediterranean, and soybeans in Okinawa. — Samantha Agate, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 July 2026

In Sardinia, that means garbanzo and fava beans, often folded into a minestrone eaten more than once a day. — Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 15 July 2026

The doner basket, another house fave, features a salad and fries topped with a choice of proteins, tzatziki, feta, pepperoncinis, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, olives, crispy garbanzo, a falafel ball, hummus and a fried pita. — Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 May 2026

And to spring back to mazeh for a moment, the menu’s weirdest disappointment was the hummus, a dish that isn’t a longstanding part of Iranian cuisine, but, as with so many of us in the world who love blitzed garbanzos, has been adopted from its Eastern Mediterranean origins. — Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Spanish (earlier usually garvanço), alteration (perhaps by blending with garroba "carob, algaroba" or gálbana "kind of pea") of earlier arvanço, ervanço, of uncertain origin

Note: Recorded as arbānsuš or arbānšuš among Hispanic words in the Arabic pharmacopoeia Kitāb al-Mustaʻīnī of Yūsuf bin Isḥāq ibn Baklāriš (ca. 1106). As noted by Joan Coromines (Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico), Greek erébinthos "chickpea" is unlikely to be the immediate source; the change i > a is ad hoc, and the outcome of -th- as z/ç is questionable. The initial arv-/erv- is comparable with a widespread group of words presumably of Mediterranean substratal origin—in addition to Greek erébinthos and órobos "the vetch Vicia ervilia," there are Latin ervum "the vetch Vicia ervilia," Germanic *arw(a)-(a)itō "pea" (whence Old High German araweiz, Old Saxon eriwit, erit, Old Norse ertr), Middle Irish orbaind "grains." The suffix of the Spanish word (*-antio?) is of obscure origin.

First Known Use

1712, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing garbanzo

• garbanzo bean

Kids Definition

garbanzo

noun

gar·​ban·​zo gär-ˈbän-zō 

plural garbanzos

: chickpea

called also garbanzo bean