Fava

//ˈfɑː.və// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A fava bean; a bean (seed or seed pod) of plants of species Vicia faba or the plant itself.

    "1976, I. I. Gottesman, J. Shields, Rejoinder: Toward optimal arousal and away from original din, Schizophrenia Buletin, 2: 447-453, quoted in 2004, Jay Joseph, The Gene Illusion, page 269, Favism, a hemolytic anemia that follows the eating of fava or broadbeans, provides a textbook example of a genotype X environment interaction."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Italian.

Example

More examples

"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian fava. Cognate with Portuguese fava and Spanish haba (“broad bean”). Doublet of bean.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian Fava.

Related phrases

fava beanfava beanvicia faba

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.