caprifig

[ kap-ruh-fig ]

noun

the wild fig, Ficus carica, bearing an inedible fruit used in pollination of the edible fig.
the fruit itself.

Origin of caprifig

1350–1400; Middle English <Latin caprifīcus the wild fig tree, literally, the goat-fig, equivalent to capri- capri- + ficus fig¹

Words Nearby caprifig

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use caprifig in a sentence

The one (caprifig) produces only male or pollen-yielding flowers.
The Romance of Plant Life | G. F. Scott Elliot
Then they brought in the wild caprifig from Smyrna and planted it side by side with the Smyrna figs, but still with no result.
Book of Monsters | David Fairchild and Marian Hubbard (Bell) Fairchild
Inside the caprifig are the grubs of the fig-wasp, which rejoice in the name of Blastophaga grossorum.
The Romance of Plant Life | G. F. Scott Elliot
At the same time she covers the ordinary flowers with pollen from the caprifig.
The Romance of Plant Life | G. F. Scott Elliot

British Dictionary definitions for caprifig

caprifig

/ (ˈkæprɪˌfɪɡ) /

noun

a wild variety of fig, Ficus carica sylvestris, of S Europe and SW Asia, used in the caprification of the edible fig

Origin of caprifig

C15: from Latin caprifīcus literally: goat fig, from caper goat + fīcus fig 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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