fruit
[ froot ]
/ frut /
noun, plural fruits, (especially collectively) fruit.
verb (used with or without object)
to bear or cause to bear fruit: a tree that fruits in late summer; careful pruning that sometimes fruits a tree.
VIDEO FOR FRUIT
WATCH NOW: Are These Foods Fruits, Vegetables, Or Berries?
How can we know what is a fruit? A vegetable? A berry? A nut? Doesn't it seem like it's always changing? Why is it so confusing?
Origin of fruit
1125–75; Middle English < Old French < Latin
frūctus enjoyment, profit, fruit, equivalent to
frūg-, variant stem of
fruī to enjoy the produce of +
-tus suffix of v. action
OTHER WORDS FROM fruit
fruit·like, adjectiveWords nearby fruit
frug,
frugal,
frugality,
frugivore,
frugivorous,
fruit,
fruit bat,
fruit beer,
fruit body,
fruit cocktail,
fruit cup
Example sentences from the Web for fruit
British Dictionary definitions for fruit
fruit
/ (fruːt) /
noun
verb
to bear or cause to bear fruit
Derived forms of fruit
fruitlike, adjectiveWord Origin for fruit
C12: from Old French, from Latin
frūctus enjoyment, profit, fruit, from
frūī to enjoy
Scientific definitions for fruit
fruit
[ frōōt ]
The ripened ovary of a flowering plant that contains the seeds, sometimes fused with other parts of the plant. Fruits can be dry or fleshy. Berries, nuts, grains, pods, and drupes are fruits.♦ Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries alone, such as the tomato and pea pod, are called true fruits. ♦ Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries and other parts such as the receptacle or bracts, as in the apple, are called accessory fruits or false fruits. See also aggregate fruit multiple fruit simple fruit. See Note at berry.
Usage
To most of us, a fruit is a plant part that is eaten as a dessert or snack because it is sweet, but to a botanist a fruit is a mature ovary of a plant, and as such it may or may not taste sweet. All species of flowering plants produce fruits that contain seeds. A peach, for example, contains a pit that can grow into a new peach tree, while the seeds known as peas can grow into another pea vine. To a botanist, apples, peaches, peppers, tomatoes, pea pods, cucumbers, and winged maple seeds are all fruits. A vegetable is simply part of a plant that is grown primarily for food. Thus, the leaf of spinach, the root of a carrot, the flower of broccoli, and the stalk of celery are all vegetables. In everyday, nonscientific speech we make the distinction between sweet plant parts (fruits) and nonsweet plant parts (vegetables). This is why we speak of peppers and cucumbers and squash-all fruits in the eyes of a botanist-as vegetables.
Cultural definitions for fruit
fruit
In botany, the part of a seed-bearing plant that contains the fertilized seeds capable of generating a new plant (see fertilization). Fruit develops from the female part of the plant. Apples, peaches, tomatoes, and many other familiar foods are fruits.
Idioms and Phrases with fruit
fruit
see bear fruit; forbidden fruit.