potato

• potatoe (obsolete)
• p'tater, tater (dialectal or informal)

Borrowed from Spanish patata, itself borrowed from Taíno batata.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəˈteɪ.təʊ/, [pə̥ˈtʰeɪtʰəʊ]

  • (file)

  • (file)

• (General American) enPR: pə-tāʹtō, IPA^(key): /pəˈteɪ.toʊ/, [pə̥ˈtʰeɪɾoʊ], [pə̥ˈtʰeɪɾə]

  • (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtəʊ

potato (plural potatoes or potatos)

1. The tuber of a plant, Solanum tuberosum, eaten as a starchy vegetable, particularly in the Americas and Europe; this plant.
   • 2017, Anthony J. McMichael, Alistair Woodward, Cameron Muir, Climate Change and the Health of Nations, →ISBN, page 213:

     Potatoes were introduced to Ireland in 1590 after being brought to Europe by Spanish conquistadores from their place of origin in the South American Andes.

   • 2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “St Pancras and King's Cross: 1947”, in RAIL, number 945, page 42:

     The rocketing popularity of potatoes in London's diet led to the conversion of the temporary GNR passenger station north of the canal [...] as a dedicated potato terminal, whose significant traffic was stolen from coastal shipping.

2. (informal, UK) A conspicuous hole in a sock or stocking.
3. Metaphor for a person or thing of little value.
   • 1757, [Tobias George Smollett], The Reprisal: Or, The Tars of Old England. […], London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […], OCLC 219939191, Act I, scene ii:

     I don't value Monſieur de Champignon a rotten potatoe; […]

   1. (slang, offensive) A mentally handicapped person.
   2. (humorous) A camera that takes poor-quality pictures.
   3. (humorous, slang, computing) An underpowered computer or other device, especially when small in size.
      • 2017 March 17, Steven Messner, “Overwatch community donates PC parts to fan who could barely run it at 800x600”, in PC Gamer‎:

        When most people refer to their computers as a potato they're being hyperbolic, but not Ethan. He plays Overwatch at 800x600 resolution with all settings on low and is excited when he gets 30 fps.

      • 2019 September 22, Benjamin Burns, “Meet the people making music with Mega Drives, Game Boys and gAtaris”, in Eurogamer‎:

        If you want to have a go right now, then Famitracker will let you compose songs for the NES and it'll run on a Windows-operated potato.

• (plant): p'tater (dialectal), spud (slang), tater (Britain, US, informal), tatie (Scotland, Cumbria, dialect), tator (eye dialect)
• (vegetable): Donovan (archaic slang), earthapple (rare), murphy, bog orange (obsolete slang), Irish apricot (obsolete slang), Irish fruit (obsolete slang), mickey
• (low-end computer): toaster (slang)

potato (comparative more potato, superlative most potato)

1. (computing, slang, humorous, of a computing device) Underpowered; low-end.

   I'd've captured a video of my playthrough rather than just screenshots, but my computer's too potato to comfortably run the game and a video-capture program at the same time.

• patoot, topato

Borrowed from English potato.

• IPA^(key): /poˈtato/
• Rhymes: -ato

potato (plural potati)

1. potato

   Synonym: terpomo

• IPA^(key): /poˈta.to/
• Rhymes: -ato
• Hyphenation: po‧tà‧to

potato (feminine potata, masculine plural potati, feminine plural potate)

1. past participle of potare

• optato, topato

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /poːˈtaː.toː/, [poːˈt̪äːt̪oː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /poˈta.to/, [poˈt̪äːt̪o]

pōtātō

1. second/third-person singular future active imperative of pōtō