truffle
/ˈtɹʌf.l̩/ noun
Forms truffles
- noun Any of various edible fungi, of the genus Tuber, that grow in the soil in southern Europe; the earthnut.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French trufle, a variant of truffe (whence also Danish and Norwegian trøffel, Swedish tryffel, German Trüffel), from Old Occitan trufa, a metathesis of Late Latin tufera (plural), from Latin tūber (“truffle”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any one of several kinds of roundish, subterranean fungi, usually of a blackish color. The French truffle (Tuber melanosporum) and the English truffle (T. æstivum) are much esteemed as articles of food. Truffle worm (Zoöl.), the larva of a fly of the genus Leiodes, injurious to truffles. Truffle pig, a pig used for finding truffles.
Etymology [OF. trufle, F. truffe; akin to Sp. trufa, tartufo; of uncertain origin; perhaps from L. tuber a tumor, knob, truffle. Cf. Tuber, Trifle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “truffle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details