chestnut
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Or a similar nut from an unrelated plant.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
chehsnuhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃɛsnət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countable
An edible nut (technically a fruit) of the Spanish chestnut or sweet chestnut tree (Castanea sativa); also (chiefly preceded by a descriptive word), a nut from a related shrub or tree; or a similar nut from an unrelated plant.
uncountable
A dark, reddish-brown colour, like that of chestnut fruit (noun, sense 1).
A dark golden-brown or reddish-brown horse
countable
A horse with a reddish-brown coat.
A small horny callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg
countable
An oval or round horny plate located on the inner side of the leg of a horse or other equines, which is thought by some people to correspond with the thumbnail of other animals.
adjective
Of a deep reddish-brown colour, like that of a chestnut fruit (noun, sense 1).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An edible nut (technically a fruit) of the Spanish chestnut or sweet chestnut tree (Castanea sativa); also (chiefly preceded by a descriptive word), a nut from a related shrub or tree; or a similar nut from an unrelated plant.
Used this way, chestnut is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use chestnut
- “The wild pony had a beautiful chestnut coat, shiny and dark brown.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A disease of American chestnut trees.
A disease of American chestnut trees.
A disease of American chestnut trees.
An oak having leaves resembling those of chestnut trees.
Any of several attractive deciduous trees yellow-brown in autumn.
Large tree found from Maine to Alabama.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: edible nut (technically a fruit) of the Spanish chestnut
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.