Translation of 'chestnut'

Question

Bonjour,Why is 'marron' (as opposed to 'châtaigne') unacceptable as a translation for 'chestnut'?

Accepted Answer

Hi Peter,
The word ‘marron ‘ is actually a 'horse chestnut' in Brit. English and the thing you play conkers with. You cannot eat it unlike ‘ châtaignes’ . 
Note that the ‘marrons  glacés ‘ you can buy are actually ‘ chestnuts ‘ and not 'marrons'.
more information on this link -
https://www.quechoisir.org/actualite-marron-chataigne-ou-marron-d-inde-gare-aux-confusions-n71287/
Hope this helps !

Answer

Both marron and châtaigne can refer to edible sweet chestnuts. This has come up previously - marron d'Inde is specifically 'horse chestnut', but marron on its own can refer to either. Châtaigne is only used in reference to sweet (edible) chestnuts.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french/chestnut

https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/marron/181367

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/marron