butternut

American  

[buht-er-nuht] / ˈbʌt ərˌnʌt /

noun

• butternuts
  plural

1. Also called white walnut.  the edible oily nut of an American tree, Juglans cinerea, of the walnut family.

2. the tree itself.

3. the light-brown wood of this tree, used for making furniture.

4. the light-brown color resulting from a dye made from this tree.

5. U.S. History. a Confederate soldier or partisan, especially one whose uniform was dyed with an extract from this tree.

6. souari nut.

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butternut British  

/ ˈbʌtəˌnʌt /

noun

1. a walnut tree, Juglans cinerea of E North America Compare black walnut

2. the oily edible egg-shaped nut of this tree

3. the hard brownish-grey wood of this tree

4. the bark of this tree or an extract from it, formerly used as a laxative

5. a brownish colour or dye

6. short for butternut pumpkin

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• butternuts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of butternut

An Americanism dating back to 1735–45; so called from the nut's oiliness

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

butternut butternuts

The restaurant makes eight varieties of potstickers in-house, including kimchi pork, curry chicken, butternut squash and shrimp, and vegan options like tofu with mushroom and kale.

From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026

From classic corn, cheddar, and bacon, to autumnal butternut squash with sage, to a “farmers market” mix of roasted vegetables, goat cheese, and onion jam, each muffin can be its own little experiment.

From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025

Among them were a chicken tikka pie, a pie flower salmon chaï-matchaï, a Caribbean-style jerk spiced turkey pie with cranberry sauce and a butternut and malabar pie.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2025

You have your leading ladies, your butternut squash, carrots and then you have the character actor that you can't look away from.

From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024

The round little man looked splendid in his new robes, with their broad bands of dun and butternut and narrow stripes of red.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Beige-skinned and oblong, they look more like bloated butternuts than anything you’d carve to make a jack-o’-lantern.

From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2021

He’s also a sometime farmer whose butternuts have won first place so often at the Washington County Fair that no one else bothers to enter anymore.

From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2011

"We know this because of the butternuts," she says.

From Time Magazine Archive

The common wild butternuts are really difficult to handle.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 41st Annual Meeting Pleasant Valley, New York, August 28, 29 and 30, 1950 by Northern Nut Growers Association

Not an hour later, two men, in big boots, slouched hats, and brownish butternuts, come out of the Commandant's quarters.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 by Various