Meaning

noun underground pod of the peanut vine

noun widely cultivated American plant cultivated in tropical and warm regions; showy yellow flowers on stalks that bend over to the soil so that seed pods ripen underground

noun a young child who is small for his age

originFrom pea + nut, perhaps a folk etymology of pinda, pinder (still found in Southern US dialects).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0