Illustration of potato
- potato 2a
potato
noun
po·ta·to pə-ˈtā-(ˌ)tō 
-tə,
dialectal pə-ˈdā-,
bə- plural potatoes
often attributive
1
: sweet potato
2
a
: an erect South American herb (Solanum tuberosum) of the nightshade family widely cultivated for its edible starchy tuber
b
: the tuber of a potato
called also Irish potato, spud, white potato
Example Sentences
She's growing carrots and potatoes in her garden this year.
Recent Examples on the Web The little one will eat his chicken with cucumbers because cooked vegetables are very terrible to him unless that vegetable is a fried potato or ketchup. 
Bon Appétit Contributor, Bon Appétit, 9 Sep. 2022 Cover and simmer until the potato is tender, about 5 minutes. Ellie Krieger, Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2022 For more than 100 years, the champion of St. Matthews has been the potato. The Courier-Journal, 24 Aug. 2022 The other new item is a papa loca ($18), a loaded potato that gets the taco treatment. Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Aug. 2022 These thin and crispy chips are reminiscent of a potato chip sans the potato. Good Housekeeping, 16 Aug. 2022 Boiling a potato with lots of garlic and then mushing all of it into a salad. Marc Myers, WSJ, 9 Aug. 2022 Meningitis is inflammation of the membranes that surround your brain like Saran Wrap around a baked potato. Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022 D’Antai Wallace, 28, a cousin of Ms. Bowler’s, was heading for his uncle’s food truck for a baked potato when he was shot. New York Times, 7 July 2022 See More
Bon Appétit Contributor, Bon Appétit, 9 Sep. 2022 Cover and simmer until the potato is tender, about 5 minutes. Ellie Krieger, Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2022 For more than 100 years, the champion of St. Matthews has been the potato. The Courier-Journal, 24 Aug. 2022 The other new item is a papa loca ($18), a loaded potato that gets the taco treatment. Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Aug. 2022 These thin and crispy chips are reminiscent of a potato chip sans the potato. Good Housekeeping, 16 Aug. 2022 Boiling a potato with lots of garlic and then mushing all of it into a salad. Marc Myers, WSJ, 9 Aug. 2022 Meningitis is inflammation of the membranes that surround your brain like Saran Wrap around a baked potato. Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022 D’Antai Wallace, 28, a cousin of Ms. Bowler’s, was heading for his uncle’s food truck for a baked potato when he was shot. New York Times, 7 July 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Spanish batata, from Taino
First Known Use
1565, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing potato
Kids Definition
potato
noun
po·ta·to pə-ˈtā-tō
plural potatoes
: the thick edible usually rounded underground tuber of a widely grown South American plant that is eaten as a vegetable