pecan

Etymology

Borrowed from French pacane and at first spelt paccan. The French word derives from an Algonquian word, perhaps Miami (Illinois) pakani. Compare Cree pakan (“hard nut”), Ojibwe bagaan, Abenaki pagann, bagôn, pagôn (“nut; walnut, hazelnut”).

noun

1. A deciduous tree, Carya illinoinensis, of the central and southern United States, having deeply furrowed bark, pinnately compound leaves, and edible nuts.
   And away on the farther bank, a motte of huge pecans, standing like giant sentinels over the dwarfed landscape, filled the eye with remote vistas in their shady, twilight aisles. It was very still. 1885, Howard Seely, A Ranchman's stories, page 154
   Within its ornamental fence, the 8/10-acre property includes several of the largest live oaks in the area — plus huge pecans and stately magnolias. 1978 April, Texas Monthly, page 51
2. A smooth, thin-shelled, edible oval nut of this tree.
   MEG. […] (Meg takes out two pecans and tries to open them by cracking them together.) Come on ... Crack, you demons! Crack! LENNY. We have a nutcracker! MEG. (Trying with her teeth.) Ah, where's the sport in a nutcracker? Where's the challenge? 1982, Beth Henley, Crimes of the heart, page 17
3. A half of the edible portion of the inside of this nut.
   Each shell contains two pecans, usually plump and oblong in shape, although some varieties are round or pointed. 2005, in The Condensed Encyclopedia of Healing Foods (Joseph Pizzorno, Lara Pizzorno; Atria Books