black-eyed pea
• noun
The edible, pale-colored bean of a cowpea cultivar (Vigna unguiculata), characterized by a prominent black or dark-brown spot around its hilum and widely used in Southern American, African, and Caribbean cuisines.
"In the American South, eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is a longstanding culinary tradition thought to bring prosperity."
A warm-season, drought-tolerant annual leguminous vine or bush of the family Fabaceae, native to West Africa and widely cultivated in warm regions for its edible seeds, pods, and nutrient-rich foliage.
"The farmer planted rows of black-eyed peas to help restore nitrogen to the depleted soil."
Word Nuance & Usage
Despite its name, the black-eyed pea is botanically a bean (a subspecies of the cowpea) rather than a true pea.
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Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.