bergamot
Americannoun
-
a small citrus tree, Citrus aurantium bergamia, having fruit with a rind that yields a fragrant essential oil.
-
Also called essence of bergamot. the oil or essence itself.
-
any of various plants of the mint family, as Monarda fistulosa, yielding an oil resembling essence of bergamot.
-
a variety of pear.
noun
-
Also called: bergamot orange. a small Asian spiny rutaceous tree, Citrus bergamia , having sour pear-shaped fruit
-
a fragrant essential oil from the fruit rind of this plant, used in perfumery and some teas (including Earl Grey)
-
a Mediterranean mint, Mentha citrata , that yields an oil similar to essence of bergamot
-
-
a North American plant, Monarda fistulosa , with clusters of purple flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
-
a garden plant of the same genus, usually M. didyma (bee balm), grown for its scarlet or pink flowers
-
-
a variety of pear
Etymology
Origin of bergamot
1610–20; < French bergamote < Italian bergamotta < Ottoman Turkish; compare Mod Turkish bey armudlu literally, bey's pear ( bey bey + armut pear (< Persian ) + -u 3rd-person singular possessive suffix); Italian form perhaps by association with Bergamo, Bergama, with -otta as alteration to a familiar suffix; the citrus apparently so called from its resemblance to the pear
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ono’s very first “Wish Tree” — a baby grapefruit tree planted in a wooden box — was shown in 1996 at Santa Monica’s Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Bergamot Station.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
He praises Bergamot for elevating “clearly unique voices that we are not typically seeing,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2025
Nguyen returns to Bergamot to headline a showcase Wednesday evening.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2025
The April 1-6 festival, anchored at her nonprofit comedy club the Crow at Bergamot Station Arts Center, offers a line-up emphasizing female- and nonbinary-identifying comedians.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2024
Bergamot, mostly—kind of lemony—but there was something else in there too, something I couldn’t place.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
