Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

chestnut

/ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.46 in modern English

Syllables
chest-nut
IPA
/ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

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.

Countable

noun

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.

Countable

noun

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.

Uncountable

noun

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.

British usage; Countable

noun

Things resembling a chestnut fruit in appearance or colour.

Uncountable

noun

Things resembling a chestnut fruit in appearance or colour.

Countable

noun

Things resembling a chestnut fruit in appearance or colour.

Countable

noun

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.

Countable

Example Sentences

Etymology

The noun is a contraction of chest(en) (“(obsolete) chestnut tree; fruit of this tree, chestnut”) + nut. 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”), 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), 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. The adjective is probably from an attributive use of the noun; compare French (of hair) châtain (“chestnut”) (from châtaigne (“a chestnut”)) and marron (“brown”) (from marron (“a horse chestnut or chestnut”)).

Origin

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/
  • British English: /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)nʌt/

Usage

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Medicine, Food.

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

chestnutlike chestnutting chestnutty

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Synonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce chestnut?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/.
What does chestnut mean?
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.
Where does chestnut come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce chestnut

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “chestnut”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “chestnut”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “chestnut” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.