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nutshell.

The shell that surrounds the kernel of a nut.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/
  1. The shell that surrounds the kernel of a nut.

  2. A short book summarizing an area of law.

  3. A small boat; a boat considered small in comparison to the seas.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English notschelle, from Old English hnutsċiell, from Proto-West Germanic *hnutskallju, equivalent to nut + shell. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Nuteskele, Nuteskil (“nutshell”), Dutch notenschaal (“nutshell”), German Nussschale (“nutshell”).

verb/ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/
  1. To summarize (from the term in a nutshell).

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English notschelle, from Old English hnutsċiell, from Proto-West Germanic *hnutskallju, equivalent to nut + shell. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Nuteskele, Nuteskil (“nutshell”), Dutch notenschaal (“nutshell”), German Nussschale (“nutshell”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.