Sweet Potato

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a tuberous plant in the same genus as the morning glory. It is a long tapered tuber with a smooth skin. The flesh of the tuber ranges from white to yellow, orange and purple. It is often confused with the potato, which is in the same order but not the same family. The soft, sweet, orange variety is called a "yam" in most of the United States but should not be confused with the true yam.

Sweet potatos are rich in dietary fiber, vitamin C and vitamin B6. In tropical areas they are a staple food crop. The tubers, leaves and shoots are all edible. The tubers are most frequently boiled, fried or baked. Tubers can also be processed to make starch and a partial flour substitute. The plants and tubers are frequently used for animal feed. Industrial uses include the production of starch and industrial alcohol.

The plant is a tropical annual vine that does not tolerate frost. Depending on the variety and conditions tubers mature in 3-9 months. Sweet potatoes rarely flower outside of the tropics and are primarily propagated by cuttings and tubers. Some variants are sold as house plants.

Sweet potatoes are believed to have originated in South America and spread throughout the tropical Americas into the Caribbean and across the South Pacific to Easter Island. Very likely the tuber drifted across the sea in a manner coconuts still do today.

Because the general Polynesian word for the sweet potato is kumara, and the South American word is kumar, it was originally thought that this was evidence of cross-Pacific contact between South America and Polynesia. However, linguists have determined that kumara and kumar are totally unrelated and have nothing to do with each other. This therefore cannot be considered as evidence of pre-Magellan trans-Pacific crossings.

Farmers in the Southern United States started using the term "yam" to distinguish between the softer orange variety and the drier white varitey. The true yam is rarely found in the United States except as an import and the orange variety must be labeled "yam sweetpotato".

Sweet Potato is also a nickname for the Ocarina.

Modern Usage: Sweet Potato

Commercial Usage: Sweet Potato

Domain	Title
Books	Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie (reference) Mr. Potato Head: Celebrating 50 Years of One Sweet Potato! (reference) Sweet Potato Pie (Step into Reading, Early, paper) (reference) The Mr Potatohead Cookbook: Delicious Irish and Sweet Potato Recipes from the World's Ultimate Potato Experts! (reference) The Sweet Potato Cookbook (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Sweet Potato Pie (reference) Sweet Potato Pie [CD-SINGLE] (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Image Slideshow: Sweet Potato

Photo Album: Sweet Potato

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Mr. Wardell Sanders, president of the Sweet Potato Growers Ass'n, at an Alcorn State University deomostration plot near Mound Bayou, MS. Credit: USDA.		Mr George Spears, one of the oldest farmers in Bolivar County, and Mr. Wardell Sanders, president of the Sweet Potato Growers Ass'n at an Alcorn State demonstration plot near Mound Bayou, MS. Credit: USDA.
	Chemist running microscopic test on sweet potato starch at plant, Laurel, Missisippi. Credit: Library of Congress.		Putting lime into water supply at sweet potato starch plant, Laurel, Mississippi. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Soldier playing "sweet potato." Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Non-Fiction Usage: Sweet Potato

Expressions: Sweet Potato

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Sweet Potato

Modern Translation: Sweet Potato

Language		Translations for "sweet potato"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		patata e ëmbël. (various references)

Arabic		‏بطاطا حلوة. (various references)

Bulgarian		сладък картоф (batata, yam), батат. (various references)

Chinese		白薯 . (various references)

Czech		sladký brambor, batata. (various references)

Dutch		zoete aardappel (yam), bataat (yam), <iemand die geslagen wordt> (yam). (various references)

Esperanto		ignamo (yam). (various references)

Finnish		bataatti. (various references)

French		patate douce. (various references)

German		Platanenwelke (Cocoa canker, Cocoa wilt, Coffea canker, Hevea mouldy rot, Sweet potato black rot), Kaffee Welke,Kakao Welke,Suesskartoffel Schwarzfaeule (Cocoa canker, Cocoa wilt, Coffea canker, Hevea mouldy rot, Sweet potato black rot), Batatenkäfer (sweet potato weevil). (various references)

Greek		γλυκοπατάτα (yam). (various references)

Hebrew		בטט�" (batata, yam). (various references)

Hungarian		batáta (spanish potato, yam), édesburgonya (batata, spanish potato). (various references)

Italian		patata americana. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		薩摩芋 , �"�藷 , �"�薯 , �"�薯 , スーパー受信機 (soup, souvenir, souvenir shop, Sufi, suite, superheterodyne receiver, superviser, sweep, sweeper, sweet, sweet corn, sweet home, sweet melon, sweet pea, sweet spot, sweetheart, Swiss, Swissrama, switch, switchback, switch-hitter, switching, Switzerland). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		さつまいも, からいも, か�"しょ (a book written in Chinese, a Chinese book, government office, hot and cold, sugar cane, summer and winter), スイートポテト . (various references)

Manx		praase Spaainagh. (various references)

Maya		iis. (various references)

Papago		ihkowi. (various references)

Pig Latin		eetsway otatopay

Portuguese		batatadoce (yam), batata doce (yams). (various references)

Russian		сладкий картофель (batata). (various references)

Sepedi		morepa. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		indijski krompir. (various references)

Shona		mbambaira. (various references)

Spanish		camote (yam), batata (batata, yam). (various references)

Swedish		sötpotatis (sweet-potato, yam), batat (batata). (various references)

Turkish		yer elması, tatlı patates (batata, yam, yank). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Ancestral Language Translations: Sweet Potato

Misspellings: Sweet Potato

Anagrams: Sweet Potato

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-e-e-o-o-p-s-t-t-t-w"
	-3 letters: potatoes.
	-4 letters: septate, tattoos, teapots, testate, wattest, wettest.
	-5 letters: aptest, attest, estate, etapes, pattee, peseta, pesewa, potato, pottos, sapote, septet, tattoo, teapot, testae, topees, tweets.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Domain	Usage
Lyrics	And sweet potato pies ooh grandma please (Ain't No Place Like Home; performing artist: Prince)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	Vietnam	Agriculture and forestry (22.3% of GDP; 1999): Principal products--rice, maize, sweet potato, peanut, soya bean, cotton, coffee, cashews. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expression	Frequency per Day
sweet potato	303
recipe for sweet potato	161
sweet potato pie	142
sweet potato queen	122
sweet potato pie recipe	94
sweet potato vine	63
baked sweet potato	46
sweet potato casserole	45
sweet potato salad	40
sweet potato clothing	33
mashed sweet potato	16
sweet potato pudding	15
sweet potato casserole recipe	11
sweet potato biscuit	10
sweet potato souffle	10
canned sweet potato	5
pecan pie sweet potato	4
candied sweet potato	3
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	Ceratocystis fimbriata, Ceratostomella fimbriata, Endoconidiophora fimbriata, Ipomoea, IPOMOEA BATATAS, Ophiostoma fimbriata, Sphaeronaema fimbriata. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "sweet potato": sweet potato vine ♦ wild sweet potato vine. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Misspellings
	"Sweet Potato" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: sweet potatoe. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Sweet Potato

Definition: Sweet Potato

Sweet Potato

Noun

Synonyms: Sweet Potato

Specialty Definition: Sweet potato

Crosswords: Sweet Potato

Modern Usage: Sweet Potato

Lyrics

Commercial Usage: Sweet Potato

Books

Music

Image Slideshow: Sweet Potato

Photos:Sweet Potato

Computer Images:Sweet Potato

Photo Album: Sweet Potato

Non-Fiction Usage: Sweet Potato

Expressions: Sweet Potato

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Sweet Potato

Modern Translation: Sweet Potato

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Dutch

Esperanto

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Manx

Maya

Papago

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Sepedi

Serbo-Croatian

Shona

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ancestral Language Translations: Sweet Potato

Misspellings: Sweet Potato

Misspellings

Anagrams: Sweet Potato

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

INDEX

Photos:
Sweet Potato

Computer Images:
Sweet Potato