Cocoa Bean
/ˈkoʊ.koʊ biːn/noun
The seed of the cacao tree, commonly fermented, roasted, and processed to make cocoa products and chocolate.
Did you know?The Aztecs called cacao cacahuatl and used cacao beans as money; Spanish chroniclers recorded that thieves could even be punished for counterfeiting them.
Etymological Timeline
Before 16th Century
Proto-Mixe-Zoquean
kakawa
“An early reconstructed Mesoamerican term associated with cacao”
16th Century
Nahuatl
cacahuatl
“Cacao or cacao drink”
16th Century
Spanish
cacao
“Cacao; borrowed from Indigenous Mesoamerican languages”
17th Century
English
cocoa
“A variant English form of cacao, influenced by Spanish and other European usage”
Old English
Old English
bēan
“Bean, the seed or fruit of a leguminous plant”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bhabh-
“A reconstructed root associated with beans or bean-like seeds”
Modern English
English
cocoa bean
“The seed of the cacao tree, used to produce cocoa and chocolate”