potato

[puh-tey-toh, -tuh]

noun

plural

potatoes 

1. Also called white potato. Also called Irish potato,. the edible tuber of a cultivated plant, Solanum tuberosum, of the nightshade family.

2. the plant itself.

3. sweet potato.

potato

/ pəˈteɪtəʊ /

noun

1. Also called: Irish potato.  white potato. 

   1. a solanaceous plant, Solanum tuberosum, of South America: widely cultivated for its edible tubers

   2. the starchy oval tuber of this plant, which has a brown or red skin and is cooked and eaten as a vegetable

2. any of various similar plants, esp the sweet potato

3. slang,  a delicate or awkward matter

Word History and Origins

Origin of potato¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish patata “potato,” variant of batata “sweet potato,” from Taíno

Word History and Origins

Origin of potato¹

C16: from Spanish patata white potato, from Taino batata sweet potato

Idioms and Phrases

see hot potato; meat and potatoes; small beer (potatoes).

Example Sentences

Retailers often have a slew of suppliers to satisfy their fresh food needs, using for instance one supplier for soup, another for grilled chicken products and a third for potato salad, analysts said.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

More than 1,000 items will be sold under the new label, Amazon said, including eggs, honey, potatoes, rice and brownies, with most priced under $5.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Lay’s iconic yellow chip bags later this year will include a new phrase: “Made with real potatoes.”

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The maker of frozen potato products reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ estimates.

Read more on Barron's

So how is it that such a nuanced issue has been reduced to a political hot potato?

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• yam 

When To Use

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.