fruit

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The sweet, soft part of a plant that contains seeds and is eaten as food.

   An apple is my favourite fruit.

2. 2
   noun

   The good result or reward of effort or work.

   Years of hard work finally bore fruit when she opened her own shop.

3. 3
   verb

   To produce fruit.

   The apple trees fruited early this year.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Fruit came into Middle English from Latin fructus, “enjoyment of produce” or “harvest,” derived from frui, “to enjoy.” Fructus also meant “profit” or “value,” and this sense made it the source of frugal, meaning “economical” or “thrifty.”

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- Proto-Italic *frūgjōr 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 frūctus (“enjoyment, proceeds, profits, produce, income”) and frūx (“crop, produce, fruit”) (compare Latin fruor (“have the benefit of, to use, to enjoy”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to make use of, to have enjoyment of”). Cognate with English brook (“to bea…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary