US /[fɹʉwʔ]/ UK /fɹuːt/
noun verb Freq #2418

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.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
2 noun · the good result or reward... resultreward
Word family
Forms fruitedfruitingfruits
Related forms fructosefrugivorefrugivorous

Etymology

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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