Nutshell

How to spell nutshell

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce nutshell

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nutshell mean?

1. nounThe hard woody shell that encloses the edible kernel of a nut.
2. nounA very brief, condensed account, used chiefly in the phrase 'in a nutshell'.

Nutshell in a sentence

• The squirrel cracked open the nutshell to reach the kernel inside.

• The manager gave the project plan in a nutshell before the longer meeting.

• Fragments of walnut nutshell littered the kitchen counter after baking.

• Put simply, in a nutshell, the budget will not stretch to cover both trips.

Where does nutshell come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent native English compound, joining 'nut' and 'shell', both of which reach back to Old English. 'Nut' comes from the Old English 'hnutu', the word for the hard-shelled seed of certain trees, while 'shell' comes from 'sciell', meaning a hard outer casing, the same root that gives us the shell of an egg or a sea creature. Put together, a nutshell is simply the woody husk that encloses the kernel of a nut. The famous figurative phrase 'in a nutshell', meaning expressed in the briefest possible form, has been current in English since the 1500s and draws on the old idea that a great deal could be packed into a tiny space; classical writers even claimed Homer's entire Iliad had been copied small enough to fit inside one. Because the word is a straightforward compound, its only real spelling trap is remembering the double 'l' at the very end.

How the word is built

• nut (seed kernel)
• shell (hard outer covering)