Meaning

noun wood of a pecan tree

noun tree of southern United States and Mexico cultivated for its nuts

noun smooth brown oval nut of south central United States

originBorrowed from French pacane and at first spelt paccan. The French word derives from an Algonquian word, perhaps Miami (Illinois) pakani. Compare Cree pakan (“hard nut”), Ojibwe bagaan, Abenaki pagann, bagôn, pagôn (“nut; walnut, hazelnut”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0