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

This includes the kitchen’s great underdog, a modest-looking sweet potato cooked in embers, slathered with miso butter and showered with chives. —Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2024

And there there are the fries … Fry to try: The fries – skinny cut, sweet potato and spicy curly ($5.75-$7.50) – don’t come with any extravagant toppings. —Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1750, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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