conker

English

A selection of fresh conkers from a horse-chestnut tree.

Etymology 1

From 19th-century dialect conker (“snail-shell”); the game of conkers was originally played using snail-shells; from conch +‎ -er or a variant of conquer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒŋkə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒŋkə(ɹ)
• Homophone: conquer

Noun

conker (plural conkers)

1. (British) A horse chestnut, used in the game of conkers.

   Synonyms: (all dialectal) cheggie, cobbler, obblyonker

   • 2006, Peter Godwin, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa:

     His bald spot gleams like a burnished conker.

   • 2025 October 13, “‘Nature’s Labubu’: why are gen Z ‘unboxing’ conkers?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Unboxing conkers? What on earth are you talking about? Oh wow, you really are out of the loop, aren’t you? Gen Zers are taking to TikTok to film themselves unpeeling conkers from their spiky capsules.

Derived terms

• conker tree

Translations

horse chestnut used in the game of conkers

• Welsh: pysen boced (literally “pocket pea”)

Etymology 2

Noun

conker

1. Alternative form of kankar.
   • 1833, Edward C. Archer, Tours in Upper India and in Parts of the Himalaya Mountains, page 89:

     The roads are not exceeded by any throughout India; hard conker pounded, makes them as level as a table.

Anagrams

• reckon, rocken