acorn

Meaning

1. The fruit of the oak, being an oval nut growing in a woody cup or cupule.
2. A cone-shaped piece of wood on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast-head.
3. See acorn-shell.
4. The glans penis.
5. (slang) A testicle.

Synonyms

berry

cowl

dome

fairing

fir cone

nut

pants

pine cone

fruit

false ogive

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈeɪ.kɔɹn/

Etymology

From Middle English acorn, an alteration (after corn) of earlier *akern, from Old English æcern (“acorn, oak-mast”), from Proto-Germanic *akraną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂égrō (“berry”). Cognate with Scots aicorn, Saterland Frisian Äkkene, 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”) or corn (“corn, seed”).