Wordwyrt

walnut

/ˈwɔːlˌnʌt/WAWL-nuht
/ˈwɔlˌnʌt/WAWL-nuht

Meaningforeign nut

Common meaning: a wrinkled edible nut

‘foreign’ + ‘nut’ → walnut

Journey through time

Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.

  • wal — Old English wealh “foreign” (dictionary form; path not traced)
  • nut — Old English hnutu “nut” (dictionary form; path not traced)

Parts join in Middle English as walnote.

  1. Middle Englishwalnote‘walnut’source
  2. Englishwalnut‘a wrinkled edible nut’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English wealh + hnutu ‘foreign + nut’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry WALNUT, p. 694 · dictionary scan

Source words

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app