walnut

American  

[wawl-nuht, -nuht] / ˈwɔlˌnʌt, -nət /

noun

1. the edible nut of trees of the genus Juglans, of the North Temperate Zone.

2. the tree itself.

3. the wood of such a tree.

4. Northeastern U.S. the hickory nut.

5. any of various fruits or trees resembling the walnut.

6. a somewhat reddish shade of brown, as that of the heartwood of the black walnut tree.

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walnut British  

/ ˈwɔːlˌnʌt /

noun

1. any juglandaceous deciduous tree of the genus Juglans, of America, SE Europe, and Asia, esp J. regia, which is native to W Asia but introduced elsewhere. They have aromatic leaves and flowers in catkins and are grown for their edible nuts and for their wood

2. the nut of any of these trees, having a wrinkled two-lobed seed and a hard wrinkled shell

3. the wood of any of these trees, used in making furniture, panelling, etc

4. a light yellowish-brown colour

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adjective

1. made from the wood of a walnut tree

   a walnut table

2. of the colour walnut

Etymology

Origin of walnut

before 1050; Middle English; Old English wealh-hnutu literally, foreign nut; see Welsh, nut

Explanation

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."

Example Sentences

Donald DeFesi’s monthly fees for his condominium association in Walnut Creek, Calif., have more than doubled since 2015 to $1,500.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

So far this year, they’ve held stings in Walnut Creek, Visalia and Bakersfield.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025

Luchin previously worked as a chef at Rose Pistola in San Francisco and as head chef at Ottavio in Walnut Creek, according to his LinkedIn profile.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 15, 2025

Characters have names like Freya the Chocolate Rabbit girl, Ambrose the Walnut Squirrel baby and Pino the Latte Cat baby.

From BBC • Jul. 18, 2025

“I know that it came from over on Walnut Street, Trotter. There can’t be too many bikes like that around. So how did you do it?”

From "Doing Time Online" by Jan Siebold