Dictionary

piñon en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɪnjən/

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish piñón.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Any of several species of North American pines in Pinus subsect. Cembroides that bear edible seeds (pine nuts), especially Pinus edulis; the nut pine.
   • The hills were covered with clusters of piñon.
   • They planted a few piñons.
   • On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns. 1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 22:
   • Anglos call it a “kiva fireplace” and put several in every Santa Fe style building, carefully burning piñon firewood upright in the approved local manner. 1994, Stewart Brand, How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built, New York: Viking, →ISBN, page 146:
2. (countable, uncountable) A pine nut.

Forms

Synonyms

piñon pine (North American pines)