fava bean
noun
fa·va bean ˈfä-və- 
: the large, flat, edible, starchy seed of an Old World upright vetch (Vicia faba) that is typically pale green to whitish in color and is eaten raw, blanched, or cooked
also : this plant widely grown for its seeds and as fodder
called also broad bean, horse bean
see favism
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web For the dinner, the women chose to make the fava bean dish because there was an abundance of the verdant legumes in Walcot’s garden, where the berries for the crostata were also grown. 
New York Times, 21 July 2022 The roots of the fava bean plants add nitrogen to the soil. Sunset Magazine, 6 Apr. 2022 For a bleary-eyed breakfast, nothing seemed more appropriate than Alem’s shihan ful ($8.95), a fava bean stew with the smooth texture of hummus, or even congee. Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Oct. 2021 Delicately sliced marinated octopus on a creamy fava bean puree, a refreshing, colorful and chunky-cut horiatiki salad and silky salmon tartare with a pearly dollop of boba-like roe. Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 9 Sep. 2021 Spread each baguette toast liberally with fava bean purée. Dallas News, 10 Apr. 2021 On a December Thursday in a nondescript Cairo apartment building, a table is spread with plastic containers of Egyptian morning mainstays – fava beans, taamiya, scrambled eggs, and falafel. Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 May 2020 The price of ful, a fava bean staple common in the region, was up 55 percent in March over a year earlier, said Lebanon’s Consultation and Research Institute. Washington Post, 28 Apr. 2020 The ful mudammas, boiled-then-mashed fava beans, is punched up with garlic, salt, and lemon juice and invites dip after dip of toasted pita. Alex Delany, Bon Appétit, 16 Oct. 2019 See More
New York Times, 21 July 2022 The roots of the fava bean plants add nitrogen to the soil. Sunset Magazine, 6 Apr. 2022 For a bleary-eyed breakfast, nothing seemed more appropriate than Alem’s shihan ful ($8.95), a fava bean stew with the smooth texture of hummus, or even congee. Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Oct. 2021 Delicately sliced marinated octopus on a creamy fava bean puree, a refreshing, colorful and chunky-cut horiatiki salad and silky salmon tartare with a pearly dollop of boba-like roe. Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 9 Sep. 2021 Spread each baguette toast liberally with fava bean purée. Dallas News, 10 Apr. 2021 On a December Thursday in a nondescript Cairo apartment building, a table is spread with plastic containers of Egyptian morning mainstays – fava beans, taamiya, scrambled eggs, and falafel. Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 May 2020 The price of ful, a fava bean staple common in the region, was up 55 percent in March over a year earlier, said Lebanon’s Consultation and Research Institute. Washington Post, 28 Apr. 2020 The ful mudammas, boiled-then-mashed fava beans, is punched up with garlic, salt, and lemon juice and invites dip after dip of toasted pita. Alex Delany, Bon Appétit, 16 Oct. 2019 See More Word History
Etymology
Italian fava "fava bean," going back to Latin faba, going back to dialectal Indo-European *bhab(h)- (whence also Serbian & Croatian bȍb, bòba "bean," Polish bób, Russian bob all going back to Slavic *bobŭ), probably borrowed from a European substratal language
First Known Use
1893, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
fava bean
noun
fa·va bean ˈfäv-ə-
: broad bean