water chestnut

American  

noun

1. any aquatic plant of the genus Trapa, bearing an edible, nutlike fruit, especially T. natans, of the Old World.

2. the fruit itself.

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water chestnut British  

noun

1. Also called: water caltrop.  a floating aquatic onagraceous plant, Trapa natans, of Asia, having four-pronged edible nutlike fruits

2. a Chinese cyperaceous plant, Eleocharis tuberosa, with an edible succulent corm

3. the corm of the Chinese water chestnut, used in Oriental cookery

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Etymology

Origin of water chestnut

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Bouncy and springy, sharp with minced garlic chives, it is punctuated here and there with crisp bits of water chestnut.

From New York Times • Feb. 28, 2022

People who transport water hyacinths, alligator grass or water chestnut plants across state lines also would no longer face up to six months in prison.

From Reuters • Dec. 21, 2020

Local officials have spent years beating back the European water chestnut, most notably from the Audubon Community Nature Center’s Big Pond, and now are dealing with massive outbreaks of harmful algal blooms.

From Washington Times • Sep. 13, 2017

“I love that they’re crisp, kind of like a water chestnut — that’s just a fun thing to eat as far as texture goes,” she said on the phone recently.

From New York Times • May 28, 2015

No one thing was more generally hawked about the streets of China than the water chestnut.

From Farmers of Forty Centuries; Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan by King, F. H. (Franklin Hiram)