Etymograph

English

sweet potato

From sweet + potato.

A compound of sweet + potato

Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂d- ‘sweet’

…

Proto-Germanic *swōtuz ‘sweet’

Proto-West Germanic *swōtī ‘sweet’

Old English swēte ‘sweet’

Middle English swete ‘sweet’

English sweet

Taíno batata ‘sweet potato’

Spanish patata

English potato

Today it means

noun A tropical perennial American vine, Ipomoea batatas, having a fleshy tuber.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sweet potato”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / sweet potato

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