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fri·jol

(frē-hōl, frēhōl′) also fri·jo·le

(frē-hōlĕ, -lā)

n. pl. fri·jo·les(frē-hōlĕs, -lāz)
Southwestern US

A bean cultivated and used for food.

[American Spanish frijol, from late Old Spanish, from a Mozarabic or Iberian Spanish regional source akin to Galician freixó and Portuguese feijão, bean, from Latin phaseolus, diminutive of phasēlus, cowpea, from Greek phasēlos; possibly of Mediterranean substrate origin and akin to Greek phakos, lentil, and Albanian bathë, fava bean.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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