A peanut is a type of edible seed that grows underground in a pod or shell, despite its name suggesting it's a nut. The peanut plant produces yellow flowers above ground, but after the flowers are pollinated, the stems bend down and push into the soil, where the peanuts develop. This unusual growing pattern makes peanuts technically legumes, relatives of peas and beans, rather than true nuts like almonds or walnuts.

Peanuts are incredibly versatile and nutritious. You've probably eaten them roasted and salted as a snack, ground into creamy or crunchy peanut butter, or mixed into candy bars. They're used in cooking around the world: Thai cuisine uses peanut sauce, while American kitchens bake peanut butter cookies. Farmers love peanuts because they naturally enrich soil with nitrogen, making the ground better for growing other crops.

George Washington Carver, a brilliant agricultural scientist, promoted peanuts to Southern farmers in the early 1900s and developed hundreds of uses for them, from cooking oil to printer's ink. His work helped transform the peanut from a little-known crop into one of America's most important agricultural products.

The word peanuts can also mean a very small amount of money, as in “She works hard but earns peanuts,” suggesting the pay is barely worth mentioning.