Lemon

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlÉ›mÉ™n/
• Rhymes: -É›mÉ™n

Origin

From Old French lymon ("citrus"), from Arabic ليمون or Ottoman Turkish لیمون, from Persian لیمو

Etymonline|lemon

. Cognate with Sanskrit निम्बू (nimbū, "lime").

Full definition of lemon

Noun

1. A yellowish citrus fruit.
2. A semitropical evergreen tree, , that bears such fruits.
3. A taste or flavour/flavor of lemons.
4. A more or less bright shade of yellow associated with lemon fruits.
5. (slang) A defective or inadequate item.He didn’t realise until he’d paid for it that the car was a lemon.
6. (Cockney rhyming slang, from "lemon tart") Smart; cheeky, vocal.
• 2009, Caitlin Moran, ‘Why I love paying tax’, The Times, 12 Oct 2009:Obviously Emin is not the first public figure to get lemon over tax increases.
7. (Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from “lemon flavour”) favour, favor.A thousand quid for that motor? Do me a lemon, I could get it for half that.
8. (fandom) A piece of fanfiction involving explicit sex (named after the erotic anime series Cream Lemon).

Synonyms

• (defective item) bomb

Derived terms

Related terms

• limonene

Adjective

1. Containing or having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons.
2. Of the pale yellow colour/color of lemons.

Anagrams

• melon