Definition of ACORN

Examples of acorn in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Cut a hole in back of acorn squash (trace gooseneck onto acorn; cut hole slightly larger so neck fits in). Draw facial features with highlighter and etch away skin with linoleum cutter. — Woman's Day Staff, Woman's Day, "50+ Creative Pumpkin Carving Ideas for Halloween," 25 July 2018 Untouched were the groves of holm oaks where, in the winter, porco preto, the black pigs who forage and feed on acorns, make the penultimate stop on their path to becoming some of the world’s best pork and ham. — Matthew Kronsberg, WSJ, "Vacation in Portugal the Less-Obvious Way," 10 Aug. 2018 As for the fragrance itself, Calvin Klein Women is a woody floral built around three principal ingredients: eucalyptus acorns, orange flower petals, and Alaskan cedarwood. — Marci Robin, Allure, "Lupita Nyong'o and Saoirse Ronan Are the Faces of Calvin Klein's New Fragrance, Women," 16 July 2018 These are known as granary trees and may hold 50,000 or more acorns that are tightly wedged in. — Ernie Cowan Outdoors, sandiegouniontribune.com, "One of nature’s hoarders," 7 Apr. 2018 The candidate for a seat in the UC Berkeley student Senate promised safe spaces for squirrels, better access to acorns and support groups for those experiencing habitat loss. — Teresa Watanabe, latimes.com, "At UC Berkeley, a squirrel ran for student Senate and won — driving some people nuts," 20 Apr. 2018 These rodents taunted us for as long as their arsenal of acorns lasted, which meant forever. — Sally Higginson, chicagotribune.com, "Column: A pair of squirrelly backyard pets," 12 July 2018 Porcupine and Skunk try to cheer him up with gifts of detritus from around the woods and pond — an old shoe, a red and white fishing bob, some acorns. — New York Times, "Brief Tales for New Readers and Little Listeners From Philip Stead and More," 29 June 2018 Every acorn will have something special to take home as well. — Courant Community, "Community News For The Putnam-Killingly Edition," 10 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'acorn.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for acorn

Middle English akorn, akkorn (partially assimilated to corn "kernel, corn entry 1"), hakerne, accherne, accharne, going back to Old English æcern, going back to Germanic *akrana- (whence also Middle High German ackeran "tree nuts," Old Norse akarn, Gothic akran "fruit, produce"); akin to Old Irish írne "sloe, kernel," Welsh eirin "plums, sloes," aeron "fruits, berries," going back to Celtic *agrinyo-, *agranyo-; perhaps further akin to a Balto-Slavic word with an initial long vowel (Old Church Slavic agoda "fruit," Polish jagoda "berry," Lithuanian úoga

Note: Taken to be a derivative of Indo-European *h₂eǵros "uncultivated field, pasture" (see acre), though this would seem to exclude the Balto-Slavic etymon, which lacks the suffix, from consideration. It is also not clear if fields, uncultivated or not, are the source of wild tree nuts.

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