means A rich, buttery edible nut from a species of hickory tree native to the southern United States and Mexico, beloved in pies and praline.

from From the Illinois (Algonquian) word 'pakani,' which traveled into French as 'pacane' before settling into English. The original Algonquian sense referred broadly to hard-shelled nuts that had to be cracked with a stone — a fitting name for a nut that doesn't give itself up easily. This is why, fittingly for a true North American native, the word itself comes from a Native American language rather than Latin or Greek.