grapefruit

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large round citrus fruit with a thick yellow or pink skin and a slightly sour, juicy inside.

   She eats half a grapefruit for breakfast every morning.

2. 2
   noun

   The citrus tree that produces this fruit.

   They planted a grapefruit in the corner of the garden.

Widely assumed to be a marketing term from grape + fruit, an allusion to the supposed grapelike clusters of fruit on the tree, early 19th c. Ciardi proposes another theory: one of the pomelo's botanical names is Citrus grandis, meaning "great citrus [fruit]", due to the size of its fruit. A new pomelo variety might first have been called a "greatfruit" (see greatfruit), and through the process of assimilation, the word came to be pronounced "grapefruit".

Topics