acorn

See also: 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, Dutch aker (“acorn”), German Ecker (“acorn”), Danish agern (“acorn”), Faroese, Icelandic akarn (“acorn”), Norwegian Nynorsk åkorn (“acorn”), 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”), corn (“corn, seed”) or Middle English acquerne.

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
• acorny
• 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)
• Cherokee: ᎫᎴ (gule)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 橡子 (zoeng⁶ zi²)

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

• Chinook Jargon: k'anawi, k̓anawi, kʼanawi
• 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
• Frisian:

  Saterland Frisian: Äkkene n

• Friulian: gland m
• Galician: belota (gl) f, landra (gl) f
• Georgian: რკო (ka) (rḳo)
• German: Eichel (de) f
• Greek: βελανίδι (el) n (velanídi)

  Ancient Greek: 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)
• 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
• Māori: huaōki
• Mazahua:

  Central Mazahua: løjø

• Middle English: acorn
• Miwok:

  Central Sierra Miwok: watýkˑa-, watýk·a-

• Mohegan-Pequot: anôhcum
• Nahuatl: ahuatomatl (nah)

  Classical Nahuatl: āhuacuauhtomatl, āhuatomatl

• 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

  Southern Ohlone: rappak

• Ojibwe: mitigomin
• Old Church Slavonic: желѫдь m (želǫdĭ)
• Old English: æcern n
• Omaha-Ponca: táshka
• Ossetian: гыркъо (gyrk’o)
• Panamint: wiyan, wiyampi
• Pawnee: patki
• Persian: بلوط (fa) (balut)
• Polabian: zelǫd f
• Polish: żołądź (pl) m
• Pomo:

  Kashaya: biʔdu

• Portuguese: bolota (pt) f, lande (pt)
• Romanian: ghindă (ro) f
• Romansch: glogn, glonda, glànd, glanda
• Russian: жёлудь (ru) m (žóludʹ)
• Sardinian: landha, landhe, landi
• Scanian: agarn m
• Scots: aicorn
• Scottish Gaelic: dearc-dharaich f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жи̑р m, желуд m

  Latin: 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

• Spanish: bellota (es) f, llande f, lande (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)

  Ottoman Turkish: پالاموت (palamut), پلیت (pelit)

• 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

• accorn, accorne, acorne, acurne, acre, akire, akkorn, akorn, hakern
• ocorn (Promptorium Parvulorum); acharn, accharne, accherne (Southern, West Midland)

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, while the variant ocorn in turn shows remodelling of the first element on ok (“oak”); this perhaps represents Northern influence, as forms such as acorn could there be interpreted as Northern Middle English ak (“oak”) +‎ corn. Meanwhile, forms without /n/ might represent either simplification of /rn/ or reinterpretation of /n/ as the plural suffix -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈakər(n)/, /ˈaːkər(n)/
• IPA^(key): /ˈaːˌkoːrn/, /ˈaˌkoːrn/, /-ˌkɔrn/ (remodelled on corn)
• IPA^(key): /ˈat͡ʃərn/ (Southern, West Midland)

Noun

acorn

1. An acorn (oak fruit) or similar fruit.

Descendants

• English: acorn
• Middle Scots: accorne, akcorne
  • Scots: aicorn

References

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