fruit
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English frute, fruit, fruct, fruyt, frut (“fruits and vegetables”), from Old French fruit (“produce, fruits and vegetables”), from Latin fructus (“enjoyment, proceeds, profits, produce, income”) and frūx (“crop, produce, fruit”) (compare Latin fruor (“have the benefit of, to use, to enjoy”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to make use of, to have enjoyment of”). Cognate with English brook (“to bear, tolerate”) and German brauchen (“to need”). Displaced native Old English wæstm.
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Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fro͞ot, IPA(key): /fɹuːt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɹut/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) Audio (file) - Rhymes: -uːt
Noun[edit]
fruit (countable and uncountable, plural fruits) (see Usage notes for discussion of plural)
- (often in the plural) In general, a product of plant growth useful to man or animals.
- Specifically, a sweet, edible part of a plant that resembles seed-bearing fruit (see next sense), even if it does not develop from a floral ovary; also used in a technically imprecise sense for some sweet or sweetish vegetables, such as the petioles of rhubarb, that resemble a true fruit or are used in cookery as if they were a fruit.
- (botany) A product of fertilization in a plant, specifically:
- 1640, John Parkinson, Theatrum botanicum: the Theater of Plants; or, An Herball of a Large Extent, London, page 1063:
- [A]fter the flower is past commeth the fruit in long pods, every seede bunching out like the pods of Orobus and as bigge almost as the smaller Pease.
- The seed-bearing part of a plant, often edible, colourful and fragrant, produced from a floral ovary after fertilization.
- The spores of cryptogams and their accessory organs.
- An end result, effect, or consequence; advantageous or disadvantageous result.
- His long nights in the office eventually bore fruit when his business boomed and he was given a raise.
- c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- the fruit of rashness
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Isaiah 3:10:
- They shall eat the fruit of their doings.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 20, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323:
- The fruits of this education became visible.
- (attributive) Of, belonging to, related to, or having fruit or its characteristics; (of living things) producing or consuming fruit.
- fresh-squeezed fruit juice
- a fruit salad
- an artificial fruit flavor
- a fruit tree
- (dated, colloquial, derogatory) A homosexual man; (derogatory, figuratively) an effeminate man. [from 1900]
- 1984, This is Spinal Tap, spoken by Ian Faith (Tony Hendra):
- I'm not talking to this twisted fruit anymore!
- 1997, Daniel Clowes, “Garage Sale”, in Ghost World, Jonathan Cape, published 2000, →ISBN, page 15:
- Aww, but he's so cute! / He's a fruit… Oh my fucking god! You will not believe who was here today!
- (archaic) Offspring from a sexual union.
- The litter was the fruit of the union between our whippet and their terrier.
- c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv]:
- King Edward's fruit, true heir to the English crown
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke 1:42:
- And she spake out with a loud voyce, and saide, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruite of thy wombe.
Usage notes[edit]
- In the botanical and figurative senses, fruit is usually treated as uncountable:
- a bowl of fruit; eat plenty of fruit; the tree provides fruit.
- fruits is also sometimes used as the plural in the botanical sense:
- berries, achenes, and nuts are all fruits; the fruits of this plant split into two parts.
- When fruit is treated as uncountable in the botanical sense, a piece of fruit is often used as a singulative.
- In senses other than the botanical or figurative ones derived from the botanical sense, the plural is fruits.
- The culinary sense often does not cover true fruits that are savoury or used chiefly in savoury foods, such as tomatoes and peas. These are normally described simply as vegetables.
Derived terms[edit]
- afterfruit
- bear fruit
- befruit
- forefruit
- fruitage
- fruitarian
- fruit bowl
- fruitcake
- fruit cocktail
- fruiten
- fruiter
- fruiterer
- fruitful
- fruitfully
- fruitfulness
- fruiting
- fruition
- fruitless
- fruitly
- fruit salad
- fruit tea
- fruit tree
- fruity
- grapefruit
- jackfruit
- old fruit
- passion fruit
- Sharon fruit
- star fruit, starfruit
- stone fruit
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb[edit]
fruit (third-person singular simple present fruits, present participle fruiting, simple past and past participle fruited)
- To produce fruit, seeds, or spores.
- 1910, Canada Experimental Farms Service, Report of the Dominion Experimental Farms:
- It may be said, however, that the percentage of green apples among the Fameuse seedlings is much less than among the others as out of 33 Fameuse seedlings which had fruited up to this year, none was green and we recollect but one light coloured Fameuse seedling fruiting this year.
- 1998, Randy Molina & David Pilz, Managing Forest Ecosystems to Conserve Fungus Diversity and Sustain Wild Mushroom Harvests, →ISBN, page 10:
- For example, chanterelles and russulas can start fruiting in early to mid summer given sufficient moisture, but other species, such as matsutake, rarely fruit until temperatures cool in the autumn, even if moisture is available earlier.
- 2014, David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks, →ISBN, page 12:
- The grass and weeds come up to my waist and the plum trees are already fruiting up, though most of the fruit'll go to the wasps and the worms, Vinny says, 'cause he can't be arsed to pick it.
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]
- Category:Fruits for a list of fruits
Further reading[edit]
- Fruit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- List of fruits on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Catalan[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
fruit m (plural fruits)
References[edit]
- “fruit” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “fruit” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
- “fruit” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “fruit” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
- A fruit.
Dutch[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle Dutch fruut, froyt, from Old French fruit, from Latin frūctus. Doublet of vrucht.
Noun[edit]
fruit n (uncountable)
- (usually collective) fruit (produced by trees or bushes, or any sweet vegetable; only literal sense)
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
- fruitachtig
- fruitig
- fruitmand
- fruitpap
- fruitpers
- fruitschaal
- fruitsoort
- fruitsuiker
- fruittaart
- fruitvlieg
- fruit types
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- Berbice Creole Dutch: frutu
Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle Dutch fruten, older friten (“to fry”), from Old French frit, past participle of frire (“to fry”).
Verb[edit]
fruit
- first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of fruiten
- imperative of fruiten
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle French fruict, a latinized spelling of Old French fruit, from Latin frūctus (“enjoyment, proceeds, profits, produce, income”), a derivative of fruor (“have the benefit of, to use, to enjoy”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to make use of, to have enjoyment of”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
fruit m (plural fruits)
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- Haitian Creole: fwi
Further reading[edit]
- “fruit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English[edit]
Noun[edit]
fruit (uncountable)
- Alternative form of frute
Old French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
fruit m (oblique plural fruiz or fruitz, nominative singular fruiz or fruitz, nominative plural fruit)
- fruit
- circa 1170, Christian of Troyes, Érec et Énide
- Oisiaus et veneison et fruit
- bird, venison and fruit
- Oisiaus et veneison et fruit
- circa 1170, Christian of Troyes, Érec et Énide
Descendants[edit]
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰruHg-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- Visual dictionary
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/uːt
- Rhymes:English/uːt/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Botany
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English dated terms
- English informal terms
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with archaic senses
- English verbs
- English 2-syllable words
- en:LGBT
- en:People
- Catalan terms inherited from Latin
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Catalan 1-syllable words
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan terms with audio links
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan masculine nouns
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/œy̯t
- Rhymes:Dutch/œy̯t/1 syllable
- Dutch terms inherited from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Old French
- Dutch terms derived from Latin
- Dutch doublets
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch uncountable nouns
- Dutch neuter nouns
- Dutch collective nouns
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms
- nl:Fruits
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French terms with homophones
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- fr:Foods
- fr:Fruits
- fr:Nutrition
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English uncountable nouns
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns