acorn

B1 Topic:Plants & Agriculture

US /ˈeɪ.kɔːrn/ UK /ˈeɪ.kɔːn/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the nut of the oak tree, typically rounded and held in a rough, scaly cupule

Squirrels are busy gathering acorns for the winter.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the nut of the oak tree,... oak nutoak fruitnutoak seedseed

Appears in

Phrases (1)

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acorn squash
a small ribbed winter squash shaped like an acorn, with yellow-orange flesh

Noun + noun

Proverbs (2)

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Simplified etymology

Acorn comes from Old English æcern and was probably first a general term for wild fruit or nuts. It was later used for fruit more broadly and eventually restricted to the oak’s nut, an important food for pigs. The modern spelling arose because speakers associated the older word with oak and corn, though those associations do not reflect its original formation.

Etymology

From Old English æcern ('fruit of the wild; mast'), from Proto-Germanic akraz ('fruit of the unenclosed land'); into Middle English aker ('nut, fruit of the oak'), reshaped by folk association with oak and corn into Modern English acorn ('oak nut').

Topics

Plants & Agriculture

External links

# acorn

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈeɪ.kɔːrn/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈeɪ.kɔːn/

## Meanings
1. the nut of the oak tree, typically rounded and held in a rough, scaly cupule

## Examples
- Squirrels are busy gathering acorns for the winter.

## Synonyms
- oak nut
- oak fruit
- nut
- oak seed
- seed

## Etymology
From Old English æcern ('fruit of the wild; mast'), from Proto-Germanic akraz ('fruit of the unenclosed land'); into Middle English aker ('nut, fruit of the oak'), reshaped by folk association with oak and corn into Modern English acorn ('oak nut').

## AI Etymology
Acorn comes from Old English æcern ('fruit of the wild; mast'), from Proto-Germanic akraz ('fruit of the unenclosed land'); into Middle English aker ('nut, fruit of the oak'), reshaped by folk association with oak and corn into Modern English acorn ('oak nut'). In current use it is a noun meaning "the nut of the oak tree, typically rounded and held in a rough, scaly cupule". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The history is mainly one of transmission into English, with the older form and sense carried through borrowing or adaptation. For dictionary purposes, the important point is the continuity between the older form, the route into English, and the present lexical sense.

## Topics
- Plants & Agriculture

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