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Glite Dictionary
🌰 A pine nut 🌲 A pine tree 🏠 A roof gable
pignon

pignon

9.5
A small pine nut used in cooking or a small gear on a bicycle
  • noun
  • /ˈpɪɡnɒn/
  • UK
translation icon : piñón
  • Traditional recipes often call for roasted pignon to add a nutty taste.

Examples

  • He replaced the smallest pignon on his bicycle to improve his speed.

  • Do you want some pignon with your pasta?

  • The chef sprinkled pignon on the salad for extra flavor.

  • I love adding pignons to my salads.

  • The chef sprinkled pignon on the salad for extra flavor.

  • Traditional recipes often call for roasted pignon to add a nutty taste.

  • He replaced the smallest pignon on his bicycle to improve his speed.

Synonyms

pinion
vspignon
  • Specialized
3 8.9

A small gear with few teeth that fits a larger gear

also means the edible seed in cooking as an unrelated botanical sense
pinon nut
vspignon
  • US
6.2

An edible seed from some pine trees eaten as a snack or used in cooking

also refers to a small bicycle gear as a second mechanical sense
pignolia
vspignon
  • US
9.6

A small edible seed from a pine tree used in cooking

also denotes a small bicycle gear in a different technical meaning
cedar nut
vspignon
4.6

An edible seed from some pine trees like Swiss pine used in cooking or as a snack

covers the general edible seed sense but is narrower in species

Surface Forms

pignon singular
pignons plural

Etymology

Pignon comes from French and originally meant a small 'pine nut', and it is related to the English word pine for the tree. A helpful way to remember the bicycle meaning is to think of a pignon as a small, nut-like part that fits with the other gears.