Everyday LifeGreek → English
Chestnut
/ˈtʃɛsnʌt/noun
The glossy brown edible nut of the sweet chestnut tree, or the reddish-brown colour of it.
The Greek roots
κάστανον
kástanon
chestnut
Literally: “chestnut”
Follow a root:κάστανον2 words
The story of the word
Greek κάστανον became Latin castanea and French chastaigne, which English took as chesten. By the 1560s people were saying chesten nut, and the second word absorbed the first. Spanish castaña gives castanets, the shells clicked between the fingers, named for the shape of the nut. Whether the Greek word came from the Pontic town of Kastanaia or from an Anatolian language is unresolved.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 1560s
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
In a sentence
The chestnut sellers set up on the corner as soon as it turns cold.
Score the shells first or the chestnuts explode in the oven.