Coconut

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkəʊ.kə.nʌt/

Definitions

1. A large, brown fruit known for its hard shell, soft inner meat, and refreshing liquid that is often consumed raw or used in various culinary applications and oils
2. This exotic fruit has a tough outer layer, a white creamy inner part, and a liquid that is popular in drinks and cooking, commonly found in tropical regions
3. A round, fibrous fruit with a hard exterior, edible white flesh, and a sweet liquid inside, often used in foods, beverages, and desserts

Etymology: The fruit's name is a compound of "coco" and "nut," and the first half is the surprise. "Coco" comes from Portuguese and Spanish, where it was used for a grinning face or bogeyman, as in "coco" meaning a grotesque face. Explorers applied it to the nut because its three dark eye-like markings on the shell looked like a face. English then joined it to "nut," a plain word for a hard-shelled seed. The fruit itself is far older in use than the English name. Its shell, husk and milk were prized across tropical regions long before European travellers wrote about them, and the word traveled into English through those sea routes. The word also took on a darker life. In reference to assimilated Hispanic or Black people, it is a slur built on the image of someone "brown on the outside, white on the inside." In reference to Polynesians, the name reflects how ubiquitous coconut palms were across those islands.

Synonyms: nut, fruit