pecan
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: pekan
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from French pacane and at first spelt paccan. The French word derives from an Algonquian word,[1] perhaps Miami (Illinois) pakani. Compare Cree pakan (“hard nut”), Ojibwe bagaan, Abenaki pagann, bagôn, pagôn (“nut; walnut, hazelnut”).
Pronunciation
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /piːˈkɑːn/ (pronunciation used by 32% of speakers in the US; common everywhere except New York, New England and the coastal Southeast)[2]
- IPA(key): /pɪˈkɑːn/ (used by 23% of speakers in the US, mostly in the southern Midwest; also used in the UK)[2][3][4]
- IPA(key): /ˈpiːkæn/ (used by 14% of speakers in the US, common in New York, New England and the coastal Southeast; also used in the UK, Australia, and Canada)[2][5][6][7][8]
- IPA(key): /ˈpiːkɑːn/ (used by 13% of speakers in the US, mostly in the Upper Midwest)[2]
- IPA(key): /piːˈkæn/ (used by 7% of speakers in the US, not common in any region; also used in Canada, Australia and New Zealand)[2][8][9][10]
- IPA(key): /ˈpɪkæn/ (used almost exclusively in coastal New England, and not the most common pronunciation even there)[2]
- IPA(key): /pəˈkɔːn/, /pɪˈkɔːn/ (used in Louisiana)[11]
- IPA(key): /pəˈkɑːn/ (sometimes used in the US when the word is unstressed)[5]
- IPA(key): /pɪˈkæn/ (used in the UK and Canada; also used by some US speakers)[12][5][7]
- IPA(key): /ˈpiːkən/ (used in the UK, Australia and New Zealand)[4][9][10]
- IPA(key): /pəˈkɒn/ (used in Canada)[8]
Audio (General Australian); /ˈpiːkæn/: (file) Audio (US); /ˈpiːkæn/: (file) Audio (US); /pɪˈkɑːn/: (file) Audio (Southern England); /ˈpiːkən/: (file)
Noun
pecan (plural pecans)
- A deciduous tree, Carya illinoinensis, of the central and southern United States, having deeply furrowed bark, pinnately compound leaves, and edible nuts.
- 1885, Howard Seely, A Ranchman's stories, page 154:
- And away on the farther bank, a motte of huge pecans, standing like giant sentinels over the dwarfed landscape, filled the eye with remote vistas in their shady, twilight aisles. It was very still.
- 1978 April, Texas Monthly, page 51:
- Within its ornamental fence, the 8/10-acre property includes several of the largest live oaks in the area — plus huge pecans and stately magnolias.
- A smooth, thin-shelled, edible oval nut of this tree.
- 1982, Beth Henley, Crimes of the heart, page 17:
- MEG. […] (Meg takes out two pecans and tries to open them by cracking them together.) Come on ... Crack, you demons! Crack!
LENNY. We have a nutcracker!
MEG. (Trying with her teeth.) Ah, where's the sport in a nutcracker? Where's the challenge?
- A half of the edible portion of the inside of this nut.
- 2005, in The Condensed Encyclopedia of Healing Foods (Joseph Pizzorno, Lara Pizzorno; Atria Books, →ISBN:
- Each shell contains two pecans, usually plump and oblong in shape, although some varieties are round or pointed.
- 2005, in The Condensed Encyclopedia of Healing Foods (Joseph Pizzorno, Lara Pizzorno; Atria Books, →ISBN:
Derived terms
Translations
tree
|
nut
|
References
- “pecan”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- “pecan”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- Christopher Davies, Divided by a Common Language: A Guide to British and American English (2005-7)
- 2004, Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2 ed.
- 2005, New Zealand Oxford Dictionary
- Claude E. Kantner, Variant Louisiana pronunciations of the word "pecan" (1944)
- Burkhard Dretzke, Modern British and American English pronunciation (2008)
Further reading
Anagrams
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