drupe

[ droop ]

See synonyms for drupe on Thesaurus.com

nounBotany.

any fruit, as a peach, cherry, plum, etc., consisting of an outer skin, a usually pulpy and succulent middle layer, and a hard and woody inner shell usually enclosing a single seed.

Origin of drupe

First recorded in 1745–55; from Latin drūpa, druppa “wrinkled olive, overripe olive,” from Greek drýppa “olive”

Words Nearby drupe

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

How to use drupe in a sentence

Some of the most common drupes include peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and cherries, but olives, mangoes and pecans also fall under this category.
A guide to stone fruit: How to choose, ripen, store and cook with it | Aaron Hutcherson | July 9, 2021 | Washington Post
It was while the manager was deciding which of three other young women to take that Mr. drupe was stricken with apoplexy.
Duffels | Edward Eggleston
Areca, a genus of lofty palms with pinnated leaves, and a drupe-like fruit enclosed in a fibrous rind.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 2 | Various
The Almond fruit is a drupe, like the peach, but the flesh is thin and hard and the pit is the Almond of commerce.
The Practical Garden-Book | C. E. Hunn
The fruit is a purple-black, globular, berry-like drupe, containing a stone with one or two seeds.
Field and Woodland Plants | William S. Furneaux

The fruit is a black, berry-like drupe containing (usually) eight little, seedlike stones.
Field and Woodland Plants | William S. Furneaux

British Dictionary definitions for drupe

drupe

/ (druːp) /

noun

an indehiscent fruit consisting of outer epicarp, fleshy or fibrous mesocarp, and stony endocarp enclosing a single seed, as in the peach, plum, and cherry

Origin of drupe

C18: from Latin druppa wrinkled overripe olive, from Greek: olive

Derived forms of drupe

drupaceous (druːˈpeɪʃəs), adjective

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

Scientific definitions for drupe

drupe

[ drōōp ]

A simple fruit derived from a single carpel. A drupe usually contains a single seed enclosed by a hardened endocarp, which often adheres closely to the seed within. In peaches, plums, cherries, and olives, a fleshy edible mesocarp surrounds the endocarp (the pit or stone). In the coconut, a fibrous mesocarp (the husk) surrounds the endocarp (the shell), while the white edible portion is the endosperm. Compare berry pome. See more at simple fruit.

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