walnut

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An edible nut with a hard, wrinkled shell and a brain-shaped seed inside.

   She sprinkled chopped walnuts over the salad.

2. 2
   noun

   The tree that produces these nuts, or its hard dark-brown wood.

   The table was made of polished walnut.

3. 3
   adj

   Having the dark brown colour of walnut wood.

   The desk had a rich walnut finish.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Walnut is an Old English formation meaning “foreign nut.” Its first element ultimately comes from Latin Volcae, the name of a Celtic tribe, which Germanic peoples broadened into a term for Celts and then for foreigners; walnuts were exotic imports from the Roman south to northern Europeans familiar with hazelnuts.

From Middle English walnote, walnutte, walnotte, from Old English wealhhnutu (“walnut”, literally “foreign nut”), from Proto-Germanic *walhaz (“foreigner”) + *hnuts (“nut”). Cognate with Dutch walnoot, German Walnuss, Swedish valnöt, Icelandic valhneta. Compare more recent term Welsh onion, which also uses Welsh to mean “foreign”.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary