sweet potato

noun

1

: a tropical vine (Ipomoea batatas) of the morning-glory family that is often grown for its edible tuberous root or for its ornamental variously shaped green to purple leaves and usually white to pinkish funnel-shaped flowers with pink to purple centers

also : the large thick sweet and nutritious tuberous root of the sweet potato that has beige, yellow, orange, red, or purple flesh and is cooked and eaten as a vegetable compare yam sense 2

2

: ocarina

Examples of sweet potato in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By now your vegetable garden should be all planned out and seeds purchased, or at least ordered, as well as onion sets or plants, seed potatoes and sweet potato slips. —Dr. Matthew Lisy, Hartford Courant, 21 June 2025

Small plates include purple sweet potato roll, rainbow roll, lobster tempura roll, spicy tuna roll, sake nigiri and Hamachi nigiri. —Aly Walansky, Forbes.com, 15 June 2025

Though this is the cheesecake bar’s first location, owner and Charlotte native Brittani Sheppard has been serving up her sweets since 2019, inspired by her late grandfather’s sweet potato pie recipe. —Chyna Blackmon, Charlotte Observer, 5 June 2025

To speed things along, start sweet potato slips indoors in spring and transplant them into soil amended with compost to give your plants more energy to grow. —Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1750, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sweet potato

• adagio
• altiplano
• arapaho
• arapahoe
• manifesto
• medicago
• minangkabau
• oregano
• ostinato
• pistachio
• politico
• portfolio

Kids Definition

sweet potato

noun

1

: a tropical vine related to the morning glories and having variously shaped leaves and purplish flowers

also : its large sweet starchy root that is cooked and eaten as a vegetable

2

: ocarina