noun
conker
Conker (noun) means (British) The hard, shiny brown seed of the horse chestnut tree, used to play a children's game.
noun
1
(British) The hard, shiny brown seed of the horse chestnut tree, used to play a children's game.
"Unboxing conkers? What on earth are you talking about? Oh wow, you really are out of the loop, aren’t you? Gen Zers are taking to TikTok to film themselves unpeeling conkers from their spiky capsules."
— , ‘Nature’s Labubu’: why are gen Z ‘unboxing’ conkers? (2025)
"His bald spot gleams like a burnished conker."
— Peter Godwin, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa (2006)
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Etymology
As a term for horse chestnut, derived from the name of the game conkers, which came first. Theories for the original meaning include 19th-century dialect conker (“snail-shell”) (the game of conkers was originally played using snail-shells), from conch + -er, or a variant of conquer.
Synonyms
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Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of conker?
"conker" (noun) means (British) The hard, shiny brown seed of the horse chestnut tree, used to play a children's game.
What is another word for conker?
Other words for "conker" include buckeye.
