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Glite Dictionary
🥥 An oily fruit 🌿 A parasitic shrub
buffalo nut

buffalo nut

9.9
An oily soft fruit from the rabbitwood tree
  • noun
  • /ˈbʌf.ə.loʊ nʌt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : nuez búfalo
  • Many animals enjoy eating buffalo nuts from the rabbitwood tree.

Examples

  • Local wildlife often feed on the buffalo nuts that fall from the trees.

  • The rabbitwood produced several buffalo nuts in the late summer.

  • Baskets of dried buffalo nuts lined the farmer's market stall.

  • The buffalo nut is native to eastern North America.

  • Baskets of dried buffalo nuts lined the farmer's market stall.

  • Local wildlife often feed on the buffalo nuts that fall from the trees.

  • Many animals enjoy eating buffalo nuts from the rabbitwood tree.

Synonyms

oil nut
vsbuffalo nut
  • Specialized
9.6

A soft oily fruit from the rabbitwood tree used for oil

is the fruit of a specific tree found in eastern North America
elk nut
vsbuffalo nut
  • Specialized
9.9

An oily small fruit from a rabbitwood bush that elk eat

is the fruit of a specific tree found in eastern North America

Surface Forms

buffalo nut singular
buffalo nuts plural

Morphology

buffalo + nut

A learner who knows 'buffalo' and 'nut' will recognize this as a type of nut (the headword is transparent in its category 'nut'), but the modifier 'buffalo' does not transparently indicate the actual botanical source (rabbitwood) or why the name applies. Because the compound partly signals category but not the specific referent or rationale, it is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Buffalo nut The name refers to the oily, fleshy fruit of the rabbitwood tree. One simple story says people called it buffalo for its fatty, oily feel and nut for its round shape, so today the term means that 'fruit'.