potato
Americannoun
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potatoes
plural
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Also called white potato, Irish potato. the edible tuber of a cultivated plant, Solanum tuberosum, of the nightshade family.
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the plant itself.
noun
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Also called: Irish potato, white potato.
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a solanaceous plant, Solanum tuberosum, of South America: widely cultivated for its edible tubers
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the starchy oval tuber of this plant, which has a brown or red skin and is cooked and eaten as a vegetable
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any of various similar plants, esp the sweet potato
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slang a delicate or awkward matter
Usage
Plural word for potato The plural form of potato is potatoes. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -o are also formed this way, including tomato/tomatoes and echo/echoes. In some cases, the plurals of words that end in -o that are adopted from another language can be formed by adding either -es or -s, as in mosquito/mosquitoes/mosquitos or mango/mangoes/mangos. However, this is not the case with potato/potatoes. Potatos is an invalid spelling of the plural of potato.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of potato
First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish patata “potato,” variant of batata “sweet potato,” from Taíno
Explanation
The potato is a mighty tuber! You can find it baked, mashed, or fried, among other things, in kitchens the world over. Potato, which comes from the Spanish word patata, originally meant "sweet potato." Potatoes have been around for quite awhile. If you'd lived in the Andes 1800 years ago, you might have been eating potatoes ever since (though you might be sick of them by now). Remember that the plural form of this starchy vegetable ends in "toes."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
With grilled chicken and sweet potato coins glossed with maple syrup and orange zest.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
The agents haggled over prices for potato chips and whittled down operating costs with impressive acumen.
From Slate ● Oct. 25, 2026
From Burbank to West Covina, lines tend to form out the door at each of the chain’s locations, with patrons ordering boxes of their signature potato balls, cheese rolls and other pastries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
For appetizers, I also love putting out potato chips, olives, slices of salami and cucumbers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
He dipped a piece of potato and handed it to Chicken, whose eyes were wide.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
Bananas, potatoes, beans, leafy greens, and yogurt are examples of foods that can help increase potassium intake.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026
Green potatoes and rhubarb leaves contain toxic compounds, while tough stalks and seeds may not be suitable for young children.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
The spidey senses of a Monterey school administrator started tingling when an invoice the food services director submitted for eggs, bacon and potatoes at Costco came with an exorbitant price tag.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Mr. Vlasenko complimented the drone operator’s dexterity: “He did not pick me up like a bag of potatoes, but like a real human being.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
“There was an elephant in the garden, you see. No, honestly there was. And she liked potatoes, lots of potatoes.”
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
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