walnut

/ˌwɔlˈnʌt/

/ˈwɔlnət/

Other forms: walnuts

A walnut is a type of deciduous tree, and it's also the name of the edible seed it produces. Walnuts have famously hard shells: You'll need a tool to crack a walnut open and get to the tasty part inside.

Several species of walnut trees are grown for both seeds and timber. The wood itself, which can also be called walnut, is hard and sturdy enough to use for furniture and cutting boards. The trees are native to many parts of the world, and walnuts appear in a variety of regional foods, from Persian stews to baklava to British pickled walnuts. The Old English source of walnut is walhnutu, which literally means "foreign nut."

Definitions of walnut

1. noun

   a tree bearing hard-shelled, edible seeds belonging to the genus Juglans
   synonyms: walnut tree

   types:

   California black walnut, Juglans californica

   medium-sized tree with somewhat aromatic compound leaves and edible nuts

   Juglans cinerea, butternut, butternut tree, white walnut

   North American walnut tree having light-brown wood and edible nuts; source of a light-brown dye

   Juglans nigra, black hickory, black walnut, black walnut tree

   North American walnut tree with hard dark wood and edible nut

   Circassian walnut, English walnut, English walnut tree, Juglans regia, Persian walnut

   Eurasian walnut valued for its large edible nut and its hard richly figured wood; widely cultivated

   type of:

   nut tree

   tree bearing edible nuts
2. noun

   a wrinkled, edible seed contained in a hard shell
   types:

   black walnut

   American walnut having a very hard and thick woody shell

   English walnut

   nut with a wrinkled two-lobed seed and hard but relatively thin shell; widely used in cooking

   type of:

   edible nut

   a hard-shelled seed consisting of an edible kernel or meat enclosed in a woody or leathery shell
3. noun

   the hard, dark-brown wood of a tree belonging to the genus Juglans; used especially for furniture and paneling
   type of:

   wood

   the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees