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shagbark hickory

shagbark hickory

9.7
A North American tree with loose, peeling gray bark and nuts you can eat
  • noun
  • /ˈʃæɡˌbɑrk ˈhɪkəri/
  • US
translation icon : nogal de cáscara suelta
  • They were gathered in a loose circle under an aging shagbark hickory, nudging at nut shells and twigs with their boots as they listened to her speak.
  • shagbark hickory and oak
  • shagbark hickory and maple
  • red shagbark hickory

Examples

  • The forest was filled with shagbark hickory trees, their shaggy bark making them easy to identify.

  • They were gathered in a loose circle under an aging shagbark hickory, nudging at nut shells and twigs with their boots as they listened to her speak.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • As autumn approached, the shagbark hickory dropped its delicious nuts, attracting squirrels and birds alike.

Synonyms

shagbark
vsshagbark hickory
  • US
1 9.8

A North American hickory tree with loose gray bark that peels and nuts you can eat

is the specific common name for that exact species
Carya ovata
vsshagbark hickory
  • Specialized
9.8

A large North American tree with shaggy grey bark and nuts you can eat

is the everyday common name for the same species

Surface Forms

Morphology

shagbark + hickory

The compound openly combines 'shagbark' (a tree characterized by shaggy bark) with 'hickory' (a type of hardwood tree), so the overall meaning — a hickory tree with shaggy bark — is directly compositional. This follows a common noun+noun naming pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Shagbark hickory gets its name from the tree's loose, peeling bark: shagbark describes the shaggy strips of bark that hang like a 'shaggy coat', and hickory is the kind of tree that makes edible nuts, so the name points to a hickory tree with shaggy, peeling bark.