/fil'euh pee"neuh/ , n.
1. a custom, presumably of German origin, in which two persons share the kernels of a nut and determine that one shall receive a forfeit from the other at a later time upon the saying of a certain word or the performance of a certain action.
2. the thing shared.
3. the forfeit paid.
Also, fillipeen .
[ 1830-40, Amer.; earlier philippina philippine Vielliebchen, dim. of viellieb very dear; in earlier form viellieb was taken as proper name Philippe Philip and -chen was made into fem. suffix -ina, giving a woman's name; in later form the word was Anglicized along pseudo-classical lines (cf. PHILO-, PENAL) ]