nutshell
/ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.43 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A short book summarizing an area of law.
noun
A small boat; a boat considered small in comparison to the seas.
Example Sentences
- "For men be now tratlers and tellers of tales; What tidings at Totnam, what newis in Wales, What ſhippis are ſailing to Scalis Malis? And all is not worth a couple of nut ſhalis."
- "[A]t last the fishing-line stood straight out behind, and the stone weights jumped along the tops of the billows, while the seas - notwithstanding the guiding hand of the pilot sought to avoid them - broke over our little nutshell, and sent the spray high above mast and sail."
Etymology
From Middle English notschelle, from Old English hnutsċiell, from Proto-West Germanic *hnutskallju, equivalent to nut + shell. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Nuteskele, Nuteskil (“nutshell”), Dutch notenschaal (“nutshell”), German Nussschale (“nutshell”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: notschelle, hnutsċiell, *hnutskallju