acorn

English

Acorns.

Alternative forms

• achorn (Chester)

Etymology

From Middle English acorn, an alteration (after corn) of earlier *akern, from Old English æcern (“acorn, oak-mast”), from Proto-West Germanic *akarn, from Proto-Germanic *akraną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂égrō (“berry”). Cognate with Scots aicorn, Saterland Frisian Äkkene, Tocharian B oko (“fruit”), Welsh eirin (“plums”), Breton irin (“plum”), Irish airne (“sloe”), Lithuanian úoga, Russian я́года (jágoda, “berry”), etc. Not related to Old English āc (“oak”) or corn (“corn, seed”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪ.kɔɹn/, /ˈeɪkɚn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪ.kɔːn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪkɔː(ɹ)n, -eɪkə(ɹ)n

Noun

acorn (plural acorns)

2. The fruit of the oak, being an oval nut growing in a woody cup or cupule.
3. (nautical) A cone-shaped piece of wood on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast-head.
4. (zoology) See acorn-shell.
5. (informal) The glans penis.
   • 2021, A. W. Strouse, Form & Foreskin: Medieval Narratives of Circumcision:

     The Romans, likewise, represented the uncouth Priapus—the god of rustic fertility and sexual assault—as comically well endowed, with his acorn showing.

6. (slang, usually in the plural) A testicle.

Holonyms

• (fruit of an oak): oak

Derived terms

• acorn barnacle
• acorn cup
• acorn disease
• acorned
• acornlike
• acorn moth
• acorn nut
• acorn squash
• acorn sugar
• acorn weevil
• acorn woodpecker
• acorn worm
• eggcorn
• even a blind pig can find an acorn, even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while
• mount a horse foaled by an acorn
• ride a horse foaled by an acorn
• ride a horse foaled of an acorn
• sea acorn

Translations

fruit of the oak tree

• Abenaki: anaskemen (red or black oak acorn; literally "oak berry"), anaskebagôn (red or black oak acorn; literally "oak nut"), wachil (white oak acorn)
• Adyghe: мышкӏу (məškʷʼu)
• Afrikaans: akker (af)
• Albanian: lende (sq) f, gogël (sq) f
• Apache:

  Western Apache: chíchʼil, chíchnʼil

• Arabic: بَلُّوط m (ballūṭ) (collective), بَلُّوطَة f (ballūṭa) (singulative)

  Moroccan Arabic: بلوط m (ballūṭ) (collective), بلوطة f (ballūṭa) (singulative)

• Aragonese: ballota (an) f
• Armenian: կաղին (hy) (kaġin)

  Middle Armenian: պալուտ (palut)

• Aromanian: gljindã f, docãrã f, vãlani f
• Asturian: llande (ast) m, abeyota (ast) f, abellota (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: palıd qozası
• Basque: ezkur (eu)
• Belarusian: жо́луд m (žólud)
• Breton: mez (br) f pl
• Bulgarian: жъ́лъд (bg) m (žǎ́lǎd)
• Catalan: gla (ca) f
• Catawba: tumo (plural)
• Central Mazahua: løjø
• Central Sierra Miwok: watýkˑa-, watýk·a-
• Cherokee: ᎫᎴ (gule)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 橡子 (zoeng⁶ zi²)

  Mandarin: 橡子 (zh) (xiàngzǐ), 橡果 (xiàngguǒ)

• Classical Nahuatl: āhuacuauhtomatl, āhuatomatl
• Cree: ᒥᐢᑎᑯᒥᐣ (mistikomin, literally “oak berry”), ᒥᐢᑎᑯᐹᑲᐣ (mistikopaakan, literally “oak nut”)
• Czech: žalud (cs) m
• Danish: agern (da) n
• Dhivehi: ކަށި ބުރޮޅި (kaṣi buroḷi)
• Dutch: eikel (nl) m
• Esperanto: glano (eo)
• Estonian: tammetõru
• Faroese: akarn n, eikinøt f
• Finnish: tammenterho (fi)
• French: gland (fr) m
• Friulian: gland m
• Galician: belota (gl) f, landra (gl) f
• Georgian: რკო (ka) (rḳo)
• German: Eichel (de) f
• Greek: βελανίδι (el) n (velanídi)

  Ancient: βάλανος f (bálanos)

• Hebrew: בַּלּוּט (he) m (balút)
• Hindi: बाँजफल m (bāñjphal)
• Hopi: kwingyaptuva
• Hungarian: makk (hu)
• Icelandic: akarn (is) n
• Ido: glano (io)
• Ingrian: tammipäähkänä
• Interlingua: glande
• Irish: dearcán m
• Italian: ghianda (it) f
• Japanese: どんぐり (ja) (donguri), 団栗 (ja) (どんぐり, donguri)
• Kashaya: biʔdu
• Kazakh: емен жаңғағы (emen jañğağy)
• Korean: 도토리 (ko) (dotori)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: belot (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жёлудь (jyolud)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latgalian: zeile f
• Latin: glans f
• Latvian: zīle f, ozolzīle (lv) f
• Lezgi: мегъв (meġv)
• Lithuanian: gilė f
• Luxembourgish: Eechel f
• Macedonian: желад m (želad), жир m (žir)
• Malagasy: voan'oaka
• Maori: huaōki
• Middle English: acorn
• Mohegan-Pequot: anôhcum
• Nahuatl: ahuatomatl (nah)
• Navajo: chéchʼil binááʼ
• Neapolitan: ghiàndra f, gliandra f
• Norman: tchênelle f
• Norwegian: kongle m or f, åkorn n

  Bokmål: eikenøtt m or f

  Nynorsk: eikenøtt f

• Occitan: agland (oc) m
• Ohlone:

  Northern Ohlone: yuu

• Ojibwe: mitigomin
• Old Church Slavonic: желѫдь m (želǫdĭ)
• Old English: æcern n
• Omaha-Ponca: táshka
• Ossetian: гыркъо (gyrk’o)
• Ottoman Turkish: پالاموت (palamut), پلیت (pelit)
• Panamint: wiyan, wiyampi
• Pawnee: patki
• Persian: بلوط (fa) (balut)
• Polabian: zelǫd f
• Polish: żołądź (pl) m
• Portuguese: bolota (pt) f, lande (pt)
• Romanian: ghindă (ro) f
• Romansch: glogn, glonda, glànd, glanda
• Russian: жёлудь (ru) m (žóludʹ)
• Sardinian: landha, landhe, landi
• Saterland Frisian: Äkkene n
• Scanian: agarn m
• Scots: aicorn
• Scottish Gaelic: dearc-dharaich f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жи̑р m, желуд m

  Roman: žȋr (sh) m, želud m

• Sicilian: ghianna (scn) f
• Silesian: ajchel f
• Slovak: žaluď m
• Slovene: želod (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: žołź m

  Upper Sorbian: žołdź m

• Southern Ohlone: rappak
• Spanish: bellota (es) f
• Sudovian: gile
• Swedish: ekollon (sv) n
• Tabasaran: мяхъв (mjaq°)
• Tagalog: ensina, belyota
• Tajik: балут (balut)
• Thai: ผลต้นโอ๊ก (pǒn-dtôn-óok)
• Tibetan: བེ་ཤིང་གི་འབྲས་བུ (be shing gi 'bras bu, literally “fruit of the oak tree”), བེ་འབྲས (be 'bras) (abbr. form)
• Turkish: palamut (tr)
• Ukrainian: жо́лудь (uk) m (žóludʹ)
• Uyghur: دۇب ياڭىقى (dub ya'ngiqi), دۇب ئۇرۇقى (dub uruqi), توڭگۇز ياڭىقى (tongguz ya'ngiqi), بەللۇت (bellut)
• Uzbek: choʻchqayongʻoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: hạt sồi
• Vilamovian: achuł f
• Volapük: kvär (vo), (older word, obsolete) gölogafluk
• Walloon: gland (wa) f
• Welsh: mes (cy) f pl
• Yiddish: חזיר־ניסל n (khazer-nisl)

References

• (glans penis): Tony Thorne (2014) “acorn”, in Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th edition, London,  […]: Bloomsbury

See also

• acorn on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Carno, Coran, Corna, acron, caron, coran, narco, narco-, racon

Middle English

Alternative forms

• accherne, accorn, accorne, acharn, acorne, acurne, acre, akire, akkorn, akorn, hakern, ocorn

Etymology

From Old English æcern, from Proto-West Germanic *akran, from Proto-Germanic *akraną.

The last element of this word is often remodelled on corn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaːkər/, /ˈakɔrn/, /ˈaːkɔrn/

Noun

acorn

1. An acorn or similar fruit.

Descendants

• English: acorn
• Scots: aicorn

References

• “ā̆korn, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.