Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - pinon

 or pinyon  noun  (plural ~s or pinyons or ~es)  Etymology: American Spanish pinon, from Spanish, pine nut, from pina pinecone, from Latin pinea — more at pineal  Date: 1831 any of various small pines (as Pinus quadrifolia, P. cembroides, P. edulis, and P. monophylla) of western North America with edible seeds; also the edible seed of a ~