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Glite Dictionary
🌳 A hickory tree 🥔 An edible root
pignut

pignut

1 9.3
A small edible underground part of a plant like a potato found in woods
  • noun
  • /ˈpɪɡˌnʌt/
  • UK
translation icon : pignut
  • The children dug up a pignut beneath the old oak tree during their nature lesson.

Examples

  • While walking in the woods, we found a pignut and tasted its nutty flavor.

  • Some animals rely on the pignut as a food source in the forest.

  • I found a pignut while hiking in the forest.

  • The pignuts are delicious when roasted.

  • While walking in the woods, we found a pignut, which has a nutty flavor and is edible.

  • The children dug up a pignut beneath the old oak tree during their nature lesson, learning about edible plants.

  • Some animals rely on the pignut as a food source, enjoying its taste in the forest.

Synonyms

groundnut
vspignut
  • US
1 7.7

A North American plant with an edible underground root eaten by Native Americans

is a small woodland tuber plant found outside North America
Apios tuberosa
vspignut
  • Specialized
9.9

A North American climbing plant with sweet-smelling flowers and edible tubers used like potatoes

is a small woodland tuber plant rather than a climbing vine

Compounds

bitter pignut
  • Specialized
9.9

A tree in the eastern United States with leaves of seven or nine small parts and thin, very bitter nuts

pignut hickory
  • Specialized
9.8

An American tree with hard bitter nuts and strong wood

Surface Forms

pignut singular
pignuts plural

Morphology

pignut = pig + nut (semi-transparent) = pig + nut

The compound suggests an edible item associated with pigs, but the specific meaning 'small woodland tuber' is a lexicalized botanical/forage sense not fully predictable.

Etymology

Pignut comes from the simple idea 'pig' + 'nut' because pigs and other animals dug up and ate the small tubers in the ground. So a pignut is the little edible tuber you can find in the woods, named for the animals that ate it.