groundnut

IPA/ˈɡraʊndnʌt/
KK[ɡrˈaʊndnˌʌt]IPA/ˈɡraʊndnʌt/

groundnut — noun

  • groundnutsingular
  • groundnutsplural

1. the small oval seed of a tropical legume plant, eaten as a snack or pressed for

1.nounC1
Definition

the small oval seed of a tropical legume plant, eaten as a snack or pressed for oil; mainly used as the British and agricultural name for what is everywhere called a peanut.

Example

Farmers in northern Ghana sell sacks of groundnut at the weekly market.

agricultural sense: bulk crop sold by the sack

Adina spread thick groundnut paste on warm bread for her children.

compound: groundnut paste / butter

Common collocations
  • groundnut oil
  • groundnut paste
  • groundnut butter
  • groundnut harvest
  • roasted groundnut
  • groundnut farmer
Synonyms
  • peanut

    the everyday word in American English and in most informal contexts worldwide

  • monkey nut

    British informal name, usually for the whole nut still in its shell

  • earthnut

    older British name; now mostly historical or regional

Grammar Patterns

groundnut + noun (oil, butter, harvest)

Usage Note

Common in British, South Asian, and West African English, and in agricultural or scientific contexts everywhere. American everyday speech almost always uses 'peanut' instead.

Common Mistakes

I bought a bag of groundnuts at the cinema in Chicago.
I bought a bag of peanuts at the cinema in Chicago.
in casual American English the everyday word is 'peanut'; 'groundnut' sounds technical or British.

2. a North American climbing plant of the pea family whose small underground swelli

2.nounC2
Definition

a North American climbing plant of the pea family whose small underground swellings can be cooked and eaten, or the swelling itself; gathered as food long before Europeans arrived and still occasionally foraged today.

Example

Along the riverbank, Caleb showed the students how to dig up a groundnut without breaking the vine.

the tuber sense, in a foraging scene

Wampanoag families boiled groundnut with fish and corn during the long winter months.

historical food use of the tuber

Common collocations
  • wild groundnut
  • American groundnut
  • groundnut vine
  • groundnut tuber
Synonyms
  • Indian potato

    older North American name referring to the same tuber

  • hopniss

    name used by some Indigenous and foraging communities

  • Apios americana

    the scientific name, used in botany and gardening texts

Grammar Patterns

the groundnut + verb (refers to the plant or its tuber)

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense refers to a wild North American vine and its starchy underground tuber, not the peanut crop. Often written 'American groundnut' or labelled with the Latin name 'Apios americana' to avoid confusion with the peanut sense.

Common Mistakes

I bought roasted American groundnut at the supermarket.
I bought roasted peanuts at the supermarket.
the tuber sense is a foraged wild food; you will not find it in normal shops.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words can name the same legume seed, but they differ in register and region. 'Peanut' is the default everyday term across American, British, and most other varieties of English, used freely in food, marketing, and casual speech. 'Groundnut' is the standard word in British agricultural, South Asian, and West African English, and in scientific or trade contexts everywhere; outside those settings it sounds technical. 'Monkey nut' is a British informal term and usually refers to the whole nut still inside its papery shell, especially as a snack or for feeding birds. 'Earthnut' is older British English, now largely historical or regional. So at a Texas baseball game you would buy peanuts, but a report on West African farming would talk about groundnut yields.

groundnut ↗peanut ↗monkey nutearthnut

Common collocations

Nouns

  • groundnut oil
  • groundnut paste
  • groundnut butter
  • groundnut harvest
  • groundnut farmer
  • groundnut crop
  • groundnut vine
  • groundnut tuber

Phrases

  • roasted groundnut
  • wild groundnut
  • American groundnut

Prepositions

  • a sack of groundnut
  • a handful of groundnut

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

A transparent English compound formed from 'ground' (the earth) plus 'nut' (a hard-shelled seed). Recorded from the 17th century, first applied by English settlers in North America to a native wild tuber (sense 2) whose 'nuts' grew underground. From the 18th century onwards British writers extended the same logic to the African and South American peanut plant, whose pods also ripen below the soil, and that crop sense (sense 1) is now the dominant meaning worldwide.