fir cone

2.3

A hard, dry part of a fir tree that holds its seeds

noun
/fɪr koʊn/

: cono de abeto

We found several fir cones scattered on the forest floor.

Examples

There were husks of empty nuts and fir cones.

Fiction book (2001)
At this profundity, the men nodded slowly and looked up at the river beyond the fire, where the waxing fir cones popped.

Fiction book (1991)
The children collected fir cones to use in their craft projects.
As winter approached, the fir cones began to fall from the trees.

Synonyms

cone

vsfir cone

33 3.9

A plant part with overlapping scales that holds seeds

is the specific version produced by a particular evergreen species

pinecone

vsfir cone

11 1.2

A hard, dry cone from a pine tree that holds seeds

is the same structure but from a different evergreen species

Surface Forms

fir cone singular

fir cones plural

Morphology

fir + cone

The noun–noun compound is fully compositional: a 'cone' that comes from a 'fir' tree. This is a regular English type-specifying compound and the meaning is directly derivable by a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Fir cone names the hard, woody cone that a fir tree makes to hold its 'seeds'; picture a small cone falling to the ground and a squirrel opening it to eat the seeds. So, fir cone simply means the seed cone of a fir tree and is often picked up for holiday 'decoration'.