quince

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a hard, fragrant, yellow pear-shaped fruit usually cooked before eating

   She simmered the quince with sugar until the fruit turned deep pink.

2. 2
   noun

   the small deciduous tree or shrub that bears quinces, Cydonia oblonga

   The quince flowered beside the orchard wall before producing its autumn fruit.

From Middle English quynce, a plural reinterpreted as singular, from Old French cooin or coing, from Latin cotoneum, in malum Cydonium, 'Cydonian apple.' The name referred to Cydonia in ancient Crete, associated with the fruit in Greek and Roman tradition.

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