a tall hickory tree, Carya illinoinensis, of the southern U.S. and Mexico, cultivated for its oval, smooth-shelled, edible nuts: the state tree of Texas.
2.
a nut of this tree.
Origin: 1765–75, Americanism; < Mississippi Valley Frenchpacane < Illinoispakani < Proto-Algonquian *paka·n- nut (derivative of *pake·- crack nuts)
1712, paccan "the pecan tree," or a related hickory, from Fr. pacane, from an Algonquian word meaning "nut" (cf. Cree pakan "hard-shelled nut," Ojibwa bagaan, Abenaki pagann, Fox /paka:ni/).