acorn

See also: ACORN

English

Alternative forms

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

Translations

References

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

See also

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

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

References

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