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Questions & Answers about ¿Necesitas un cascanueces?
Why does cascanueces end in an 's' if we are only talking about one nutcracker (un cascanueces)?
Cascanueces is a compound noun made of the verb cascar (to crack) in the 'it' form (casca) and the plural noun nueces (nuts). Because the noun part of the word is plural, the compound word always ends in an 's', even when you only have one.
How do you pluralize cascanueces if you need two of them?
The singular word for nut is nuez. Why is it spelled with a 'c' in cascanueces?
This relies on a standard Spanish spelling rule you likely learned early on. Words ending in 'z' change that 'z' to a 'c' when adding -es for the plural. So nuez becomes nueces. Since the compound noun incorporates the plural form, it requires the 'c' spelling.
Is it common in Spanish to name tools using a verb and a plural noun like this?