butter beans
Lima beans, the Southern supper-table name.
Also called lima beans, butterbeans.
Updated September 21, 2026
butter beans pronunciation
/BUT-er beenz/
Meaning
Around a redneck table, butter beans are lima beans cooked soft with pot liquor, often with a ham hock or a little fatback. Some families save butter beans for the small fresh ones and call the big dried ones limas. Others flip it. Either way, if you walk in asking for lima beans at a Southern covered-dish supper, somebody will still point you to the butter beans.
How folks use it
- “Mama put on a pot of butter beans with cornbread.”
- “You want butter beans or green beans with that fried chicken?”
Origin and etymology
Butter beans is the common Southern name for lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus). Hans Kurath's Word Geography of the Eastern United States (1949) noted it across the Southern area, and many speakers split small butter beans from larger limas. The Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English treats it as everyday hill-country talk; calling them limas alone can mark you as from somewhere else.
Frequently asked questions
Are butter beans and lima beans the same thing?
Same plant family, yes. In the South the word butter beans is the usual table name. Some kitchens use butter beans for the small ones and lima for the big dried ones.