truffle

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from French trufle, a variant of truffe (whence also Danish and Norwegian trøffel, Swedish tryffel, German Trüffel), from Old Occitan trufa, a metathesis of Late Latin tufera (plural), from Latin tūber (“truffle”).

1. Any of various edible fungi, of the genus Tuber, that grow in the soil in southern Europe; the earthnut.

   “In ancient times, the Romans imported truffles, credited with marked aphrodisiac virtue, from Libya as well as Greece.”

2. Ellipsis of chocolate truffle (“creamy chocolate confection, in the form of a ball, covered with cocoa powder”).