Etymology

nut

N1U1T1

Today it means: Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants. Full definition →

First used 1910s–1920sMiddle English note ← Old English hnutu ← Proto-West Germanic *hnut
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nut · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hnuts“nut”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hnut
  3. Old English · inherited fromhnutu
  4. Middle English · inherited fromnote
  5. English todaynut

From Middle English note, nute, from Old English hnutu, from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts (“nut”), from a root *knu- possibly shared with Proto-Celtic *knūs and Latin nux (“nut”). Based on the form of the nouns and the restriction of the root to Germanic, Celtic and Italic, it has been argued to be of non-Indo-European (substrate) origin. See also West Frisian nút, Dutch noot, German Nuss, Danish nød, Swedish nöt, Norwegian nøtt.

nut · interjection2

Variant of not.

Nut · proper noun3

  1. Egyptian · borrowed fromnwt“Nut, sky”
  2. English todayNut

Borrowed from Egyptian nwt (“Nut, sky”).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishnote all →

notenotable

Old Englishhnutu all →

Nuttall

First known use, by meaning

  • 1910s–1920s An extravagantly fashionable young man.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.