Pecan

Pronunciation

IPA: ËŒpi(Ë)ËˆkÉ’Ën pronunciation used by 32% of speakers in the US; common everywhere except New York, New England and the coastal Southeast

IPA: pÉª.kÉ’Ën, ËŒpÉªËˆkÉ’Ën used by 23% of speakers in the US, mostly in the southern Midwest; also used in the UK

Dictionary.com"pecan" in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 2008, WordReference.com

IPA: ËˆpiËËŒkÃ¦n used by 14% of speakers in the US; common in New York, New England and the coastal Southeast; also used in the UK

Merriam Webster OnlineChristopher Davies, Divided by a Common Language: A Guide to British and American English (2005-7)

IPA: ËˆpiËËŒkÉ’(Ë)n used by 13% of speakers in the US, mostly in the Upper Midwest

IPA: ËŒpi(Ë)ËˆkÃ¦n used by 7% of speakers in the US, not common in any region

IPA: pÉªk.Ã¦n used almost exclusively in coastal New England, and not the most common pronunciation even there

Claude E. Kantner, Variant Louisiana pronunciations of the word "pecan" (1944)

IPA: ËŒpÉ™ËˆkÉ’(Ë)n sometimes used in the US when the word is unstressed

Burkhard Dretzke, Modern British and American English pronunciation (2008)

Borrowed into English from the French word pacane and at first spelt paccan. The French word derives from an word,

perhaps Miami (Illinois) pakani. Compare Cree pakan ("hard nut"), Ojibwe bagaan, Abenaki pagann, bagÃ´n, pagÃ´n ("nut; walnut, hazelnut").

Full definition of pecan

(plural pecans)

A deciduous tree, , of the central and southern United States, having deeply furrowed bark, pinnately compound leaves, and edible nuts.

1885, Howard Seely, A Ranchman's stories, page 154: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.
1978 April, in the Texas Monthly, page 51:Within its ornamental fence, the 8/10-acre property includes several of the largest live oaks in the area â€” plus huge pecans and stately magnolias.

1982, Beth Henley, Crimes of the heart, page 17: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?

2005, in The Condensed Encyclopedia of Healing Foods (Joseph Pizzorno, Lara Pizzorno; Atria Books, ISBN 978-0-7434-7402-3):Each shell contains two pecans, usually plump and oblong in shape, although some varieties are round or pointed.