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Leguminous is an adjective used to describe plants in the legume family, which includes the plants that produce some beans, peas, and lentils.

The word legume most commonly refers to the edible seed pods of these plants (the beans, peas, lentils, and other things that they bear as fruit). The peanut is famously not a nut but a legume.

The word legume can also refer to the plants themselves. These include herbs, shrubs, trees, and vines that usually have compound leaves and clusters of irregular flowers.

The fruit from such plants (the beans or other edible part) usually comes in the form of a pod that splits along both sides—chickpeas and peanuts split down the middle in this way.

Many leguminous plants are widely grown as food for humans and animals. Some legumes are planted to improve the nitrogen content of the soil where they grow.

Example: My nutritionist recommended that I add more leguminous sources of protein to my diet.

The first records of the word leguminous in English come from around the 1650s. Its base word, legume, comes from the French ��é���ܳ���, meaning “vegetable.” It ultimately derives from the Latin ����ū�����, meaning “bean,” from the Latin verb legere, meaning “to pick (a crop).”

Legumes are eaten and used to make foods around the world. Some of the most popular legumes are chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), which are a staple of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines. Hummus is made from chickpeas. One of the most versatile legumes is the soybean, which is used to make tofu, soy sauce, some vegetable oil, and other products marketed as “plant-based.” Like soybeans, black-eyed peas are eaten by humans as well as used to feed livestock (hence their other name, cowpeas) and planted to improve the soil.

Leguminous plants add nitrogen to soil through bacteria that live on their roots. These bacteria take nitrogen from the air—which is otherwise unusable by the plants—and convert it into compounds that the plants can use. Think about that next time you’re dipping into your hummus.

What are some other forms of leguminous?

• legume (noun)

What are some words that share a root or word element with leguminous?��

• legumin

What are some words that often get used in discussing leguminous?

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• plant
• protein
• peanut
• pea
• bean
• lentil
• chickpea
• soybean
• black-eyed pea
• vegetable

Leguminous is most often used in the context of eating legumes.

Leguminous Chocolate Pudding.
I used organic, sprouted tofu to make this decadent pudding.
Rich in plant-based protein, lend fiber, vitamins, minerals & phytochemicals. They’re inexpensive, accessible for people around 🌎

— Alejandra Schrader (@ChefAleSchrader)

The leguminous crop has been on the brink of a breakthrough in the UK for decades, but now, better varieties and a search for more home-grown protein may help boost its popularity.

— Let's Talk Crops 🌾 (@LetsTalkCrops)

Turn it down to simmer, add a tin of chickpeas (or butter beans or anything else leguminous), some chopped carrots if you have them – I didn't – and simmer for as long as it takes to be reduced to a nice consistency. 20-40m depending how much stock you used.

— Andrew Gray (@generalising)

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Which of the following foods is leguminous?

A. peanut
B. soybean
C. chickpea
D. all of the above