Meaning & use
potato tuber
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
The swollen, starchy underground part of a potato plant that stores food and is eaten as a vegetable.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a potato tuber or potato tubers.
Patterns
- a potato tuber
- potato tubers
Each potato tuber can grow into a new plant if it is planted.
Farmers store potato tubers in cool, dark places to stop them sprouting.
The potato tuber is actually a modified stem, not a root.
Word forms
| plural | potato tubers |
|---|
Common combinations
- a potato tuber
- She dug up a large potato tuber from the garden.
- potato tubers
- The recipe calls for two potato tubers, peeled and chopped.
- grow potato tubers
- Farmers grow potato tubers in rows during the spring.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
Commonly confused: potato tuber or tuber?
potato tuber vs tuber
A tuber is any swollen underground storage organ; a potato tuber is one specific example.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'potato tuber' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 uses the term correctly for the edible part of the potato. Option 1 is wrong because tubers grow underground. Option 2 is possible but less precise because 'potato tuber' is technical; the simpler 'potato' is more natural in cooking. Option 3 is wrong because a tuber is not a fruit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “potato tuber”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.