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fruit

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Fruit and FRUIT

English

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English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia Wikipedia

Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewHg-
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHgyéti
Proto-Italic *frūgjōr
Proto-Italic *frūjōr
Latin fruor
Proto-Indo-European *-tus
Proto-Italic *-tus
Latin -tus
Latin frūctus
Old French fruitbor.
Middle English fruyt
English fruit

    From Middle English fruyt, frut (“fruits and vegetables”), from Old French fruit (“produce, fruits and vegetables”), from Latin fruitus (“enjoyment, proceeds, profits, produce, income”), frūctus and frūx (“crop, produce, fruit”) (compare Latin fruor (“have the benefit of, to use, to enjoy”)).

    Cognate with English brook (“to bear, tolerate”) and German brauchen (“to need”). Partially displaced native Old English wæstm, ofett and æppel (whence modern ovest and apple).

    Compare Dutch vrucht, German Frucht, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish frukt, Danish frugt.

    In the derogatory senses of “crazy person” and “homosexual or effeminate man”, possibly a shortening of fruitcake, or of independent origin, compare Fruit (slang).

    Picture dictionary
    fruitfruit
    fruit
    pear
    apple
    nectarine
    papaya
    passionfruit
    mandarin
    peach
    mango
    dragon fruit
    tamarind

    Click on labels in the image

    food
    tree

    Other fruits (not depicted above)

    cherry
    lemon
    pineapple
    melon
    plum

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    fruit (countable and uncountable, plural fruits) (see Usage notes for discussion of plural)

    2. (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.
      1. The seed-bearing part of a plant; often edible, colourful, fragrant, and sweet or sour; produced from a floral ovary after fertilization.
      2. The spores of cryptogams and their accessory organs.
    4. Any sweet or sour, edible part of a plant that resembles seed-bearing fruit (see former sense) even if it does not develop from a floral ovary.
      • 2025 January 13, Gina Kolata, “Have Americans Ever Really Been Healthy?”, in The New York Times‎[1], archived from the original on 14 January 2025:
        It’s true that agriculture at the time was organic, food was locally produced and there were no ultraprocessed foods. But fresh fruits and vegetables were in short supply because they were difficult to ship and because growing seasons were so short.
      1. A sweet or sweetish vegetable, such as the petioles of rhubarb, that resembles a true fruit or is used in cookery as if it was a fruit.
    5. 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.
      He spent his retirement enjoying the fruits of his labour.
    6. (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
    7. (dated, colloquial, derogatory) A homosexual man, especially an effeminate one.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:gay man
      • 1977 [1953], William S. Burroughs, edited by Allen Ginsberg, Junky, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 66:
        "Moishe just checked in," he said. "He's a panhandler and a fruit. A disgrace to the Jewish race."
      • 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!
    8. (derogatory, figurative) An effeminate man. [from 1900]
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:effeminate man
    9. (archaic) Offspring from a sexual union.
      The litter was the fruit of the union between our whippet and their terrier.
      fruit of one's loins
    10. (informal) A crazy person.

    Usage notes

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    • 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.

    Hyponyms

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    Derived terms

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    Derived from fruit (literal, vegetal)
    Derived from fruit (figurative)
    other derived terms (unsorted)
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    Descendants

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    • Bislama: frut
    • Jamaican Creole: fruut
    • Tok Pisin: frut
    • → Japanese: フルーツ (furūtsu)

    Translations

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    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Verb

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    fruit (third-person singular simple present fruits, present participle fruiting, simple past and past participle fruited)

    1. (intransitive) 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.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    See also

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    Further reading

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    Catalan

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    Catalan Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia ca

    Etymology

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    Inherited from Latin fructus.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    fruit m (plural fruits)

    1. fruit
    2. offspring
      el fruit de les seves entranyes ― the fruit of his loins
    3. result, consequence
      Synonyms: efecte, conseqüència
    4. profit, benefit
      Synonyms: benefici, profit, utilitat

    Derived terms

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    References

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    Dutch

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    Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia nl

    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    From Middle Dutch fruut, froyt, from Old French fruit, from Latin frūctus. Doublet of vrucht.

    Noun

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    fruit n (uncountable, no diminutive)

    1. (usually collective) fruit (produced by trees or bushes, or any sweet vegetable; only literal sense)
      Synonyms: (also metaphoric) vrucht, (archaic) ooft
    Derived terms
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    types of fruit
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    Descendants
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    • Berbice Creole Dutch: frutu

    Etymology 2

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    See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

    Verb

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    fruit

    1. inflection of fruiten:
      1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
      2. imperative

    French

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    French Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia fr

    Etymology

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    Inherited from Middle French fruict, a Latinized spelling of Old French fruit, from Latin fruitus (“enjoyment, proceeds, profits, produce, income”), frūctus, a derivative of fruor (“have the benefit of, to use, to enjoy”).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    fruit m (plural fruits)

    1. fruit
      • 1903, Maurice Pillard Verneuil, Étude de la plante‎[3], page 2:
        Les membres principaux de la plante sont au nombre de trois : la racine, la tige, la feuille. Venant s'ajouter à ceux-ci, se trouvent les fleurs, les fruits et les graines.
        There are three main parts of the plant: the root, the stem, and the leaf. In addition to these, there are flowers, fruits, and seeds.

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • Haitian Creole: fwi
    • Mauritian Creole: frwi
    • Réunion Creole French: fri

    Further reading

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    Middle English

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    Noun

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    fruit

    1. alternative form of fruyt

    Old French

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    Etymology

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      From Latin frūctus.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      fruit oblique singular, m (oblique plural fruiz or fruitz, nominative singular fruiz or fruitz, nominative plural fruit)

      1. fruit

      Descendants

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      West Frisian

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      Etymology

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      Possibly borrowed; see the native term frucht.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      fruit n (no plural)

      1. fruit

      References

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      • J. W. Zantema, Frysk wurdboek. Deel 1: Frysk - Nederlânsk, 11e printige, page 315
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