bergamot
Americannoun
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a small citrus tree, Citrus aurantium bergamia, having fruit with a rind that yields a fragrant essential oil.
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Also called essence of bergamot. the oil or essence itself.
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any of various plants of the mint family, as Monarda fistulosa, yielding an oil resembling essence of bergamot.
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a variety of pear.
noun
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Also called: bergamot orange. a small Asian spiny rutaceous tree, Citrus bergamia , having sour pear-shaped fruit
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a fragrant essential oil from the fruit rind of this plant, used in perfumery and some teas (including Earl Grey)
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a Mediterranean mint, Mentha citrata , that yields an oil similar to essence of bergamot
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a North American plant, Monarda fistulosa , with clusters of purple flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
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a garden plant of the same genus, usually M. didyma (bee balm), grown for its scarlet or pink flowers
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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.
For a laidback restaurant with a backyard barbecue feel, consider Le Great Outdoor in the Bergamot Station complex in Santa Monica.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 9, 2026
He praises Bergamot for elevating “clearly unique voices that we are not typically seeing,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2025
During Bergamot 2024, Stelling anchored a showcase lineup including Nina Nguyen, then subsequently booked Nguyen on “Beth Stelling and Her Pals” at Largo.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2025
It’s an issue that reminds the L.A. stand-up community why Blaine’s inaugural Bergamot Comedy Festival is so vital.
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.
