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drupe

American  
[droop] / drup /

noun

Botany.

  1. 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.

drupe British  
/ druːp, druːˈpeɪʃəs /

noun

  1. 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

"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
drupe Scientific  
/ dro̅o̅p /

  1. 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.

  2. Compare berry pome See more at simple fruit

Other Word Forms

  • drupaceous adjective

Etymology

Origin of drupe

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

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.

First, there are those cashews, which are not nuts at all but technically fruit; they’re the drupe seeds that extend under the apple of the cashew tree.

From Washington Post • Jul. 10, 2022

Though sometimes referred to as a berry, the fruit of Piper nigrum is a drupe, as are stone fruits, meaning that it consists of a seed in the center surrounded by a layer of flesh.

From Washington Post • Feb. 11, 2022

In botany, this is called the suture, and it gives drupe fruits – a category that includes peaches, plums and olives – a seam that can split to release its seed-bearing pit.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 1, 2019

In botany, this is called the suture, and it gives drupe fruits, a category that includes peaches, plums and olives, a seam that can split to release its seed-bearing pit.

From Washington Post • Sep. 30, 2019

The fruit is an oblong, dark brown drupe.

From Forest Trees of Illinois How to Know Them by Fuller George D.

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.