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Glite Dictionary
cashew nut

cashew nut

1 1.8
A kidney-shaped nut roasted before eating and used as a snack or in cooking
  • noun
  • /ˈkæʃuː nʌt/
translation icon : nuez de anacardo
  • Snack: some cashew nuts or a fruit.

Oh, crisps in the day, chocolate at night, cashew nuts.

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Examples

  • Why don't you see if you can hunt up some more of those cashew nuts?

    Short Circuit 2 (1988)

  • There was also dried squid, pork, and a dish made out of the upper pear part of the cashew nut.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • - I got you chicken cashew nut, extra nut.

    Rough Night (2017)

  • So cashew nuts in it, avocado, whatever.

    Rio Ferdinand Presents

  • Evening snack: fruit salad and a few cashew nuts.

    Blog text (30)

  • Cashew nuts.

    Brian and Charles (2022)

  • If I don't get a cashew nut, I'm gonna puke!

    Spanish Judges (2000)

  • " And running around after that terrible old mother of yours," remarked Vivienne, offering salted cashew nuts in a silver dish.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Some people consist of walnuts, cashew nut products, pecans, and almonds; all of which are often obtainable in major home improvement stores.

    Blog text (22)

  • Before dinner, I served some cashew nuts along with cocktails, and everyone kept eating them.

Synonyms

nut
vscashew nut
337 1.0

A large hard seed with a shell that you can eat

is a specific kidney-shaped edible seed eaten after roasting
cashew
vscashew nut
13 1.0

A kidney-shaped edible nut that people usually roast and eat as a snack

is the same item but focused on use as snack and in cooking

Surface Forms

cashew nut singular
cashew nuts plural

Morphology

cashew + nut

The meaning 'the edible nut of the cashew tree' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'cashew' (the specific seed/tree name) with 'nut' (an edible seed). This noun+noun compound follows a common compositional pattern found cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Cashew nut comes from the way the nut grows: the curved nut hangs below a sweet cashew apple and looks like a small kidney. Because the raw nut has a natural poison, people roast it to make it 'safe to eat', so cashew nut now means the roasted, edible nut used in cooking and as a snack.