pea

noun

• 1a spherical green seed which is eaten as a vegetable: [as modifier]:pea soup
• West Indian any legume, including peas, beans, or lentils, eaten as a vegetable.

• 2the hardy Eurasian climbing plant which yields pods containing peas.

  • Pisum sativum, family Leguminosae (or Fabaceae; the pea family). The members of this family (known as legumes) are sometimes divided among three smaller families: Papilionaceae (peas, beans, clovers, vetches, brooms, laburnums, etc.), Mimosaceae (mimosas, acacias), and Caesalpiniaceae (cassia, carob, and many tropical timber trees)

• 3 [with modifier] used in names of plants or seeds that are similar or related to the pea, e.g. chickpea, sweet pea.