garbanzo

From Spanish garbanzo, initially borrowed as garvance in the 17th c. and anglicized as calavance (“chickpea; any kind of bean or pulse”).^[1] The original garbanzo was re-established in the 19th c., primarily via American Spanish.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɡɑɹˈbɑnzoʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Note: this pronunciation may be nonstandard or incorrect: needed re-recording

• Hyphenation: gar‧ban‧zo

garbanzo (plural garbanzos)

1. An edible pulse (Cicer arietinum), of the family Leguminosae or Fabaceae and subfamilies Faboideae or Papilionoideae, with white or purple-blue flowers and small feathery leaves on both sides of the stem and pods containing two to three peas.

   Synonym: garbanzo bean

   • 1956, Allen Ginsberg, “America”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC, page 33:

     America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell meetings they sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the speeches were free […]

2. A seed of this plant; the chickpea.

• garbanço (obsolete)

From Old Spanish garbanço.^[1] Presumably influenced by garroba (“carob fruit”) and galbana (“small pea; a variety of pea”).^[1][2]

• IPA^(key): /ɡaɾˈbanθo/ [ɡaɾˈβ̞ãn̟.θo] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ɡaɾˈbanso/ [ɡaɾˈβ̞ãn.so] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -anθo (Spain)
• Rhymes: -anso (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: gar‧ban‧zo

garbanzo m (plural garbanzos)

1. chickpea; garbanzo (plant, seed)
2. (figurative) bottom dollar, dosh

• → Basque: garbantzu
• → English: garbanzo, calavance

• “garbanzo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024