candlenut

candlenut

English

Etymology

candle +‎ nut

Noun

candlenut (plural candlenuts)

1. A flowering tree (Aleurites moluccana and Aleurites rockinghamensis) of the family Euphorbiaceae, also known as candleberry, Indian walnut, kemiri, varnish tree or kukui nut tree.
   • 1923, Various, Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Fourteenth Annual Meeting‎:

     In both respects, as I have already pointed out, they differed from the Polynesians who brought with them to their island homes not only their language but their agriculture, from the cradle of their race in the Malay Archipelago; cuttings of seedless breadfruit and of sugarcane, fleshy roots of taro and yams; even trees, like the Indian almond and the candlenut.

2. The seed of this tree, used as a candle
   • 1921, Various, The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story‎:

     The scene under the candlenut torches was as familiar to us as the Ohio River of Uncle Tom to the small-town schoolboy; the meager rows of three-quarter naked Kanakas, yellow with saffron and blue with tattooer's ink; the old women in the background of sultry lights and enormous shadows compounding endless balls of popoi for the feast; the local and desceptered chieftain squatting on his hams and guarding the vanished gallon between his knees; this was all as it should have been.

Translations

tree

Fijian: tuitui Hawaiian: kukui Makasar: sapiri Malay: buah keras (ms), kemiri, keminting Swahili: mkaa (sw) Tongan: tuitui

seed

Fijian: tuitui Hawaiian: kukui Malay: buah keras (ms), kemiri, keminting

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Indonesian: (please verify) kemiri (id) Tongan: (please verify) tuitui

Further reading

• Aleurites rockinghamensis on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Aleurites moluccanus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Aleurites on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Aleurites on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons