Meaning & use
chestnuts
Last updated
Meanings
nounplural
Large brown nuts that grow inside a prickly case on a chestnut tree and can be cooked and eaten.
Grammar: Usually plural when talking about the food; the singular 'chestnut' refers to one nut or the tree.
Patterns
- roast chestnuts
- peel chestnuts
- chestnuts in stuffing
We bought a bag of hot roast chestnuts at the winter market.
She added chopped chestnuts to the stuffing for a nutty flavor.
Chestnuts are lower in fat than most other nuts.
noununcountable
A reddish-brown color, like the shell of a chestnut.
Grammar: Used mainly before a noun: chestnut hair, chestnut brown.
Patterns
- chestnut hair
- chestnut brown
- chestnut mare
The horse had a glossy chestnut coat.
Her hair was a warm chestnut color in the sunlight.
Word forms
| singular | chestnut |
|---|
Common combinations
- roast chestnuts
- Roast chestnuts are a classic winter treat.
- water chestnuts
- Water chestnuts add a crunchy texture to stir-fries.
- chestnut tree
- The chestnut tree in the park is over a hundred years old.
- chestnut brown
- He painted the door a deep chestnut brown.
Synonyms and how they differ
- conker
- A conker is the shiny brown seed of the horse chestnut, used in a children's game, not usually eaten.
Word family
- chestnut noun
- One nut, or the tree that produces chestnuts.
Commonly confused: chestnuts or water chestnut?
chestnuts vs water chestnut
A water chestnut is a crisp white vegetable from a water plant, not the brown nut from a chestnut tree.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'chestnuts' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The plural 'chestnuts' is used for the food; 'chestnut' would need 'a' or 'the', and 'a chestnuts' is ungrammatical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chestnuts”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.