chickpea

Multiple Entries:
  chickpea    pea  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
chickpea/ˈtʃɪkpiː/

▶noun

• 1 a round yellowish seed which is a pulse of major importance as food.

• 2 the leguminous plant which bears chickpeas. [Cicer arietinum.]

– origin C18 (earlier as chiche-pease): from ME chiche (from OFr. chiche, cice, from L. cicer ‘chickpea’) + pease.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pea/piː/

▶noun

• 1 a spherical green seed eaten as a vegetable.

• 2 the hardy climbing leguminous plant which yields pods containing peas. [Pisum sativum.]

• 3 used in names of similar or related plants or seeds, e.g. chick pea.

– derivatives
pea-like adjective.

– origin C17: back-form. from pease (interpreted as pl.).