Pignuts

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of edible tuber associated with various species of plants in the hickory family, often found in North America
2. A nut-like tuber produced by certain plants, typically consumed by wildlife, and sometimes by humans as well
3. Referring to the underground parts of certain plants resembling small nuts, commonly used as a food source by animals

Etymology: Pignut is a plural-friendly compound of two very plain English words, "pig" and "nut", and the name describes exactly what hungry animals were doing with it. The plant's edible tubers lie underground, so pigs root them out with their snouts, and the name records that habit rather than any resemblance to a true nut. The plant is the earthnut or pignut, a member of the carrot family whose small tubers were once dug up for food. The plural form "pignuts" simply refers to more than one of these tubers or plants. It is the plural of the compound, so it takes its origin from the same two parts: "pig", the familiar farm animal, and "nut", a word for any hard-shelled seed or kernel, here applied loosely to the round underground tuber.

Synonyms: nuts, tubers, roots, edible roots, wild nuts