litchi nut
1
7.4
- noun
- /ˈliːtʃi nʌt/
- UK
:
lichi
- After peeling the litchi nut, I savored the juicy and sweet pulp.
Examples
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She added litchi nuts to the fruit salad for a unique flavor.
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I'll eat a goddamn litchi nut and go to bed.
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I ordered lychee nuts, and the pineapple's gone bad.
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I picked several litchi nuts from the market to enjoy as a sweet snack.
Synonyms
2
4.7
A small round fruit with a rough red shell, soft white inside, and one large seed
A small round Chinese fruit with a thin brittle shell, sweet white flesh, and a single seed
A small round fruit with thin red skin and sweet flesh
A small round fruit with thin rough skin, sweet white flesh, and a single hard seed
How Sweet
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is transparently compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'litchi' (the fruit) and 'nut' (an edible seed/fruit) will readily infer this refers to the edible seed/fruit of the litchi. The noun+noun modifier pattern is a common, cross-linguistic way to label a kind or part of something, so the meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
The name litchi nut comes from an old Chinese word, and the sound of litchi was kept when traders brought the small, round fruit to Europe. So today litchi nut means a small, sweet fruit with a thin, brittle shell and soft, white flesh.