fiddlehead
Americannoun
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Nautical. a billethead having a form similar to the volute carved at the upper end of a violin.
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the young, coiled frond of various species of ferns, eaten as a vegetable.
noun
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nautical an ornamental carving, in the shape of the scroll at the head end of a fiddle, fitted to the top of the stem or cutwater
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the edible coiled tip of a young fern frond
Etymology
Origin of fiddlehead
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Spring specialties: garlic scapes, pea shoots, ramps, fiddlehead ferns, English peas, fava beans.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2025
Gradually, native ingredients like kawakawa or fiddlehead ferns, as well as traditional cooking techniques, have inspired non-Maori New Zealand chefs like Al Brown or Ben Bayly.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2022
The chef’s preferred seasonal items for spring into summer include berries, asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, fresh pea shoots and pea vines.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2022
In “The Spring Ephemerals,” a trillium belongs to a complex ecosystem of “rue anemone, masses // of colt’s foot, wild ginger, blood root and may- / apples, bracken and fiddlehead fern.”
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 1, 2019
His black, glossy tail curled in on itself like a fiddlehead fern in early spring.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
