From Middle Englishfruyt, frut(“fruits and vegetables”), from Old Frenchfruit(“produce, fruits and vegetables”), from Latinfrūctus(“enjoyment, proceeds, profits, produce, income”) and frūx(“crop, produce, fruit”) (compare Latinfruor(“have the benefit of, to use, to enjoy”)), from Proto-Indo-European*bʰruHg-(“to make use of, to have enjoyment of”). Cognate with Englishbrook(“to bear, tolerate”) and Germanbrauchen(“to need”). Displaced native Old Englishwæstm and Old Englishæppel.
In the derogatory senses of “crazy person” and “homosexual or effeminate man”, possibly a shortening of fruitcake, or of independent origin, compare Fruit (slang).
fruit (countable and uncountable, plural fruits) (see Usage notes for discussion of plural)
(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, fragrant, and sweet or sour; produced from a floral ovary after fertilization.
The spores of cryptogams and their accessory organs.
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.
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.
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.
c. 1593 (date written), 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, [Act II, scene i]:the fruit of rashness
1611, The Holy Bible,[…] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker,[…], →OCLC, Isaiah 3:10:They shall eat the fruit of their doings.
1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XX, 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:The fruits of this education became visible.
2019 July 11, John Thornhill, “Does tech threaten to rerun the worst of the Industrial Revolution?”, in Financial Times[1]:It is incontestably the case that future generations enjoyed the extraordinary fruits of the Industrial Revolution’s “great enrichment”.
(attributive) Of, belonging to, related to, or having fruit or its characteristics; (of living things) producing or consuming fruit. fresh-squeezed fruit juicea fruit saladan artificial fruit flavora fruit tree
(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!
(derogatory, figurative) An effeminate man. [from 1900]Synonyms:see Thesaurus:effeminate man
(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
c.1591–1592 (date written), 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, [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, 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.
(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
[edit]
See Thesaurus:fruit § Hyponyms
Derived terms
[edit] Derived from fruit (literal, vegetal)
afterfruit
bear fruit
befruit
crystallized fruit
forefruit
fruitage
fruitarian
fruit body
fruit bowl
fruitcake
fruit cocktail
fruiten
fruiter
fruiterer
fruitful
fruitfully
fruitfulness
fruit-growing
fruitgrowing
fruiting
fruition
fruitless
fruitly
fruit salad
fruit-set
fruit shop
fruitsome
fruit tea
fruit tree
fruit-tree
fruit-trencher
fruit wine
fruity
glacé fruit
grapefruit
in fruit
jackfruit
key fruit
milk fruit
miraculous fruit
monkey fruit
old fruit
passion fruit
pickle fruit
Sharon fruit
star fruit, starfruit
stone fruit
strange fruit
Derived from fruit (figurative)
forbidden fruit
fruit of one's loins
fruit of the poisonous tree
fruit of the union
unfruitful
unfruitfully
unfruitfulness
other derived terms (unsorted)
accessory fruit
aggregate fruit
angry fruit salad
atoll fruit dove
bag of fruit
beautiful fruit dove
blue sausage fruit
brandy fruit
breadfruit
butter fruit
by their fruits you will know them
cackle fruit
candied fruit
canefruit
catapult fruit
chain fruit
citrus fruit
collective fruit
compound fruit
cream-fruit
crotch fruit
desert fruit cake
doum fruit
dried fruit
drift fruit
egg fruit
eggfruit
false fruit
firstfruit
fogfruit
football fruit
forbidden fruit is the sweetest
frankenfruit
fruital
fruit and flowers
fruit bat
fruit-bearing
fruitbody
fruit borer
fruit bouquet
fruit brandy
fruit-cake
fruit cake
fruitcrop
fruitcrow
fruit crush
fruit cup
fruit curd
fruit dot
fruit dove
fruit-dove
fruit drop
fruit-eater
fruiteater
fruitery
fruit fall
fruitfest
fruitflesh
fruitfly
fruit fly
fruitgrower
fruit hat
fruit ice
fruitie
fruitification
fruitify
fruitini
fruitious
fruitique
fruitivore
fruit jar
fruit juice
fruit leather
fruitlet
fruitlike
fruitling
fruit loop
fruit loops
fruit machine
fruitmonger
fruit moon
fruitness
Fruit Ninja champion
fruit of the sea
fruit pigeon
fruit punch
fruit rollup
fruit salt
fruitseller
fruitset
fruitshop
fruitsicle
fruit smoothie
fruit sugar
fruit-time
fruit up
Fruitvale
fruit vegetable
fruit wall
fruit wart
fruit wine
fruit-wood
fruitwood
fruitworm
frutification
golden fruit dove
green fruit beetle
hand fruit
high-hanging fruit
intrafruit
Irish fruit
jack-fruit
jack fruit
key-fruit
kiwi fruit
low hanging fruit
low-hanging fruit
Mediterranean fruit fly
miracle fruit
monkfruit
monk fruit
multifruit
multiple fruit
nipplefruit
nonfruit
nutty as a fruit cake
Oriental fruit moth
oyster fruit
peach fruit moth
pipfruit
pseudofruit
rose-crowned fruit-dove
saguaro fruit
simple fruit
sling-fruit
snake fruit
soft fruit
spore fruit
superfruit
time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana
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
Swahili: (please verify) zao (sw)class 5/6, (please verify) mazao (sw)pl
Verb
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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.
“fruit”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
“fruit”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
“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.
Dutch
[edit]Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:fruitWikipedia nl
Pronunciation
[edit]
IPA(key): /frœy̯t/
Audio:
(file)
Hyphenation: fruit
Rhymes: -œy̯t
Etymology 1
[edit]
From Middle Dutchfruut, froyt, from Old Frenchfruit, from Latinfrūctus. Doublet of vrucht.
Noun
[edit]
fruitn (uncountable, no diminutive)
(usually collective)fruit(produced by trees or bushes, or any sweet vegetable; only literal sense)Synonyms:(also metaphoric)vrucht, (archaic)ooft
Derived terms
[edit]
bruin fruit
fruitachtig
fruitboom
fruitig
fruitkraam
fruitmand
fruitpap
fruitpers
fruitsalade
fruitsap
fruitschaal
fruitsoort
fruitsuiker
fruittaart
fruitvlieg
Turks fruit
types of fruit
boomfruit
steenfruit
Related terms
[edit]
grapefruit
Descendants
[edit]
Berbice Creole Dutch: frutu
Etymology 2
[edit]
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
[edit]French Wikipedia has an article on:fruitWikipedia fr
Etymology
[edit]
Inherited from Middle Frenchfruict, a latinized spelling of Old Frenchfruit, from Latinfrūctus(“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]
IPA(key): /fʁɥi/
Audio (Western France);“un fruit”:
(file)
Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):
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Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):
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Audio (France (Paris)):
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Audio (France (Toulouse)):
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Audio (France (Vosges)):
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Audio (France):
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Audio (France (Grenoble)):
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Audio (France (Vosges)):
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Audio (France (Vosges)):
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Audio (France (Hérault)):
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Audio (France (Lyon)):
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Audio (France (Massy)):
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Audio (France (Somain)):
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Homophone: fruits
Noun
[edit]
fruitm (plural fruits)
fruit
Derived terms
[edit]
c'est au fruit que l'on connaît l'arbre
couteau à fruit
fruit à coque
fruit de la passion
fruit de mer
fruit défendu
fruit du dragon
fruit sec
fruiterie
fruitier
fruitière
porter ses fruits
Descendants
[edit]
Haitian Creole: fwi
Further reading
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“fruit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
Middle English
[edit]
Noun
[edit]
fruit
alternative form of fruyt
Old French
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]
From Latinfrūctus.
Pronunciation
[edit]
IPA(key): /ˈfɾyi̯t/
Noun
[edit]
fruitoblique singular, m (oblique plural fruiz or fruitz, nominative singular fruiz or fruitz, nominative pluralfruit)
fruit
c.1170, Christian of Troyes, Érec et Énide:Oisiaus et veneison et fruitbird, venison and fruit
Fruit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 