fruit
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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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PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fro͞ot, IPA(key): /fɹuːt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɹut/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) Audio (file) - Rhymes: -uːt
NounEdit
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 […] (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 notesEdit
- 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 termsEdit
- 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 termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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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.
VerbEdit
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.
TranslationsEdit
See alsoEdit
- Category:Fruits for a list of fruits
- fruiting (in aviation)
Further readingEdit
- Fruit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- List of fruits on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
fruit m (plural fruits)
ReferencesEdit
- “fruit” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “fruit”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2022
- “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.
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle Dutch fruut, froyt, from Old French fruit, from Latin frūctus. Doublet of vrucht.
NounEdit
fruit n (uncountable)
- (usually collective) fruit (produced by trees or bushes, or any sweet vegetable; only literal sense)
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
- fruitachtig
- fruitig
- fruitmand
- fruitpap
- fruitpers
- fruitschaal
- fruitsoort
- fruitsuiker
- fruittaart
- fruitvlieg
- fruit types
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- Berbice Creole Dutch: frutu
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle Dutch fruten, older friten (“to fry”), from Old French frit, past participle of frire (“to fry”).
VerbEdit
fruit
- first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of fruiten
- imperative of fruiten
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
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”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
fruit m (plural fruits)
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- Haitian Creole: fwi
Further readingEdit
- “fruit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle EnglishEdit
NounEdit
fruit (uncountable)
- Alternative form of frute
Old FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
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