chestnut

See also: Chestnut

English

WOTD – 24 December 2025
Chestnuts (noun sense 1) in a bur enclosing them.
A chestnut tree (noun sense 2).
Horse chestnuts (noun sense 2.2) and a filled bur (top).
A horse with a coat of this colour is called a chestnut (noun sense 3.2)
A chestnut (noun sense 3.3) on the foreleg of a horse.
A woman with chestnut hair (adjective sense 1).

Etymology

    The noun is a contraction of chest(en) (“(obsolete) chestnut tree; fruit of this tree, chestnut”) +‎ nut.[1] Chesten is a late variant of chesteine (obsolete), from Middle English chesten, chesteine, chasteine, chesteyne (“chestnut tree (Castanea sativa); fruit of this tree; wood of this tree”),[2] from Old French chastaigne, chastaine (French châtaigne), from Latin castanea (“chestnut tree; fruit of this tree”) (whence Old English ċisten), from Ancient Greek κᾰστᾰ́νειᾰ (kăstắneiă),[3] a variant of κᾰ́στᾰνᾰ (kắstănă, “sweet chestnut”); for further etymology, see that entry. Doublet of castanet.

    Noun sense 4 (“joke, phrase, etc., which has been repeated so often as to have grown ineffective or tiresome”) may refer to an 1816 play, The Broken Sword, by William Dimond (1781 – c. 1837), in which one character begins to relate a story in which a boy slips down from a cork tree, and another interrupts him to say that he had previously repeated the story many times, and always mentioned a chestnut tree.[1][4]

    The adjective is probably from an attributive use of the noun;[1] compare French (of hair) châtain (“chestnut”) (from châtaigne (“a chestnut”)) and marron (“brown”) (from marron (“a horse chestnut or chestnut”)).

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)nʌt/
    • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/
    • Audio (General American); /ˈt͡ʃɛsˌnʌt/:(file)
      (file)
    • Audio (General Australian):(file)
    • Rhymes: -ɛsnʌt, -ɛstnʌt
    • Hyphenation: chest‧nut

    Noun

    chestnut (countable and uncountable, plural chestnuts)

    2. (countable) An edible nut (technically a fruit) of the Spanish chestnut or sweet chestnut tree (Castanea sativa); also (chiefly preceded by a descriptive word), a nut from a related shrub or tree; or a similar nut from an unrelated plant.
      Synonyms: Spanish chestnut, sweet chestnut
      • 1531 March 20 (date written; Gregorian calendar), [Antonio de Guevara], “Howe the Emperour Reasoned with the Maysters that shulde Lerne His Sonne”, in John Bourcher knyghte Lord Barners [i.e., John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners], transl., The Golden Boke of Marcus Aurelius Emperour and Eloquent Oratour, London: […] Thomæ Bertheleti […], published 1535, →OCLC, folio 16, recto:
        Of trouth the cheſtain trees brynge forth the ſoft ſwete cheſtnutte out of the ſharpe pricking ⁊ hard huſke.
      • 1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of the Chesnut Tree”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London: […] [Henry [i.e., Hendrik van der] Loë for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, 6th part (Trees, Shrubbes, Bushes, and Other Plantes of Wooddy Substance), page 729:
        The Cheſnut tree, is a very great, high & thicke tree, not much vnlike the Walnut tree. […] amongſt the leaues at the top of yͤ branches grow the Cheſnuttes whiche are browne without, ſomewhat flat almoſt after the faſhion of a hart, and playne and ſmooth polliſhed: they be alſo incloſed in ſhelles and very rough and prickley huſkes lyke to a Hedgehogge or Urchin, the which huſkes do open of their owne accorde when the Cheſnuttes be ripe ſo that they fall out of theie ſayde huſkes of their owne kinde.
      • 1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], “Philautus to the Faire, Camilla”, in Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 73, verso:
        I am not he Camilla that will leaue the Roſe, bicauſe I pricked my finger, or forſake the golde that lyeth in the hot fire, for that I burne my hande, or refuſe the ſweet Cheſnut, for that it is couered with ſharpe huſkes.
      • [1716], [John] Gay, “Book III. Of Walking the Streets by Night.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC, page 56:
        So vvhen tvvo Boards, in vvild Ytene bred, / Or on VVeſtphalia’s fatt’ning Cheſt-nuts fed, / Gnaſh their ſharp Tusks, and rous’d vvith equal Fire, / Diſpute the Reign of ſome luxurious Mire; / In the black Flood they vvallovv o’er and o’er, / ’Till their arm’d Javvs diſtill vvith Foam and Gore.
      • 1732, John Arbuthnot, “Practical Rules of Diet in the Various Constitutions and Diseases of Human Bodies. Chapter I. Of the Different Qualities and Effects of Alimentary Substances. 4. Anti-acid, or Contrary to Acidity or Sourness.”, in An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, page 258:
        Cheſnuts are good in Female VVeakneſſes, and afford a very good Nouriſhment.
      • 1761, John James Rousseau [i.e., Jean-Jacques Rousseau], “Notes. [Discourse.] Pag[e] 17..”, in [anonymous], transl., A Discourse upon the Origin and Foundation of the Inequality among Mankind. […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 195:
        This I knovv by my ovvn Experience, having compared the Produce of tvvo Pieces of Land of equal Area and Quality, one ſovved vvith VVheat, and the other planted vvith Cheſnut Trees.
      • 1882, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “Cupid and Psyche”, in Mount Royal […], volume I, London: John and Robert Maxwell […], →OCLC, page 215:
        It was a small house, and of exceeding elegance; […] Somebody said it was a theatre which looked as if it ought to be filled with glacé chestnuts, or crystallized violets, rather than with substantial flesh and blood.
    4. (countable) In full chestnut tree: the shrub or tree that bears this nut, the Spanish chestnut or sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa); also (chiefly preceded by a descriptive word), a shrub or tree of the genus Castanea.
      Synonyms: Spanish chestnut, sweet chestnut
      1. (uncountable) Wood of a chestnut tree.
      3. (countable, UK) Short for horse chestnut (“any of several tree species of the genus Aesculus, especially Aesculus hippocastanum; the fruit of such a tree”).
    5. (by extension) Things resembling a chestnut fruit in appearance or colour.
      1. (uncountable) A dark, reddish-brown colour, like that of chestnut fruit (noun sense 1).
        chestnut:  
      3. (countable) A horse with a reddish-brown coat.
        • 1871 August, “‘Our Van.’ The Invoice.—July Jocundities.”, in Baily’s Monthly Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume XX, London: A. H. Baily & Co., […], →OCLC, page 308:
          [T]he noble Vice-President of the Club, Lord Carington […] led the way with his chestnuts, having a distinguished brother whip, Lord Londesborough, by his side.
        • 1877, George Nevile, “Colour”, in Horses and Riding, London: Longmans, Green, & Co., →OCLC, page 105:
          Chestnut horses are fidgetty and hot, but seem to have less sense than bay horses, while bay horses, though they are cleverer, are the worst tempered and the most irritable—that is, browns are the soberest, bays are the worst tempered, and chestnuts are the most foolish.
        • 1882, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “But then Came One, the Lovelace of His Day”, in Mount Royal […], volume I, London: John and Robert Maxwell […], →OCLC, pages 40–41:
          At Launceston he found Mrs. Tregonnel's landau waiting for him, with a pair of powerful chestnuts, and a couple of servants, whose neat brown liveries had nothing of that unsophisticated semi-savagery which Mr. Hamleigh had expected in a place so remote.
      5. (countable) An oval or round horny plate located on the inner side of the leg of a horse or other equines, which is thought by some people to correspond with the thumbnail of other animals.
        Synonym: night eye
        Coordinate term: castor
    7. (countable, figurative) Chiefly in old chestnut: a joke, meme, phrase, ploy, etc. which has been repeated so often as to have grown ineffective or tiresome; a cliché.
      Synonym: platitude

    Alternative forms

    Hyponyms

    types of plants

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • → Gujarati: ચેસ્ટનટ (cesṭanaṭ)

    Translations

    See also

    Adjective

    chestnut (not comparable)

    2. Of a deep reddish-brown colour, like that of a chestnut fruit (noun sense 1).
      Synonym: castaneous
      chestnut hair

    Derived terms

    Translations

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “chestnut, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “chestnut, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
    2. ^ “chesteine, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
    3. ^ “† chesteine | chesten, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025.
    4. ^ William Dimond (1816), The Broken Sword, a Grand Melo-drama, […], London: […] J. Barker, Dramatic Repository, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 13:
      Zav[ior]. […] At the dawn of the fourth day's journey, I entered the wood of Collares, when ſuddenly from the thick boughs of a cork tree— / Pab[lo]. (jumping up.) A cheſnut, Captain, a cheſnut. / Zav. Bah! you booby, I ſay, a cork. / Pab. And I ſwear, a cheſnut—Captain! this is the twenty-ſeventh time I have heard you relate this ſtory, and you invariably ſaid, a cheſnut, till now.

    Further reading

    Anagrams

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