Fruit

Pronunciation

• enPR: froÍžot, IPA: /fɹuːt/
• Rhymes: -uːt

Origin

(1125–75) Middle English fruit, frut "fruits and vegetables" from Old French fruit, from Latin fructus (""), a derivative of Latin frui ("to have the benefit of, to use, to enjoy"), from Proto-Indo-European *bhrug- ("to make use of, to have enjoyment of"); cognate with Modern German brauchen "to use", English brook "to tolerate". Displaced native Middle English ovet ("fruit") (from Old English ofett ("fruit")), Middle English wastum, wastom ("fruit, growth") (from Old English wæstm ("growth, produce, increase, fruit")), Middle English blede ("fruit, flower, offspring") (from Old English blēd ("fruit, flower")).

Full definition of fruit

Noun

1. (botany) The seed-bearing part of a plant, often edible, colourful/colorful and fragrant, produced from a floral ovary after fertilization.While cucumber is technically a fruit, one would not usually use it to make jam.
2. Any sweet, edible part of a plant that resembles seed-bearing fruit, 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 rhubarb, that resemble a true fruit or are used in cookery as if they were a fruit.Fruit salad is a simple way of making fruits into a dessert.
3. An end result, effect, or consequence; advantageous or advantageous result.His long nights in the office eventually bore fruit when his business boomed and he was given a raise.
• Shakespearethe fruit of rashness
• Bible, Isaiah iii. 10They shall eat the fruit of their doings.
• MacaulayThe fruits of this education became visible.
4. Offspring from a sexual union.The litter was the fruit of the union between our whippet and their terrier.
• ShakespeareKing Edward's fruit, true heir to the English crown
5. (colloquial, derogatory, dated) A homosexual or effeminate man.

Usage notes

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

Related terms

• frugivore
• frugivorous

Verb

1. To produce fruit.