Earthnut

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A starchy underground tuber or nutlike structure produced by plants such as groundnuts or pignut
2. A subterranean edible nut or tuber, particularly the root of the pignut or similar plants
3. An underground nutritious bulb or nut-like growth found on certain plant species, especially pignuts

Etymology: Earthnut is a compound of two very old English words, "earth" and "nut", and its history runs back to the Germanic languages before English existed as a separate tongue. The Old English form "eorþhnutu" was already in use, and it passed into Middle English as "erthenote", so the word has been recognisably the same thing for well over a thousand years. The name describes exactly what the plant does: the nut is formed underground. Once the flower has been pollinated and its stalk has bent down, the fruit ripens beneath the soil surface, so the "nut" really does grow in the "earth" rather than on the branch. The same idea appears in other plants with names built on this pattern, and the compound was a plain, descriptive coinage rather than a term with a dramatic story behind it.

Synonyms: groundnut, peanut