fruit

American  

[froot] / frut /

noun

plural

fruits,

plural

fruit

1. any product of plant growth useful to humans or animals.

2. the developed ovary of a seed plant with its contents and accessory parts, as the pea pod, nut, tomato, or pineapple.

3. the edible part of a plant developed from a flower, with any accessory tissues, as the peach, mulberry, or banana.

4. the spores and accessory organs of ferns, mosses, fungi, algae, or lichen.

5. anything produced or accruing; product, result, or effect; return or profit.

   the fruits of one's labors.

6. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a gay man.

---

verb (used with or without object)

1. to bear or cause to bear fruit.

   a tree that fruits in late summer; careful pruning that sometimes fruits a tree.

fruit British  

/ fruːt /

noun

1. botany the ripened ovary of a flowering plant, containing one or more seeds. It may be dry, as in the poppy, or fleshy, as in the peach

2. any fleshy part of a plant, other than the above structure, that supports the seeds and is edible, such as the strawberry

3. the specialized spore-producing structure of plants that do not bear seeds

4. any plant product useful to man, including grain, vegetables, etc

5. (often plural) the result or consequence of an action or effort

6. old-fashioned chap; fellow: used as a term of address

7. slang a person considered to be eccentric or insane

8. slang a male homosexual

9. archaic offspring of man or animals; progeny

---

verb

1. to bear or cause to bear fruit

fruit Scientific  

/ fro̅o̅t /

1. The ripened ovary of a flowering plant that contains the seeds, sometimes fused with other parts of the plant. Fruits can be dry or fleshy. Berries, nuts, grains, pods, and drupes are fruits.

2. ◆ Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries alone, such as the tomato and pea pod, are called true fruits.

3. ◆ Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries and other parts such as the receptacle or bracts, as in the apple, are called accessory fruits or false fruits.

4. See also aggregate fruit multiple fruit simple fruit See Note at berry

---

fruit Cultural  

1. In botany, the part of a seed-bearing plant that contains the fertilized seeds capable of generating a new plant (see fertilization). Fruit develops from the female part of the plant. Apples, peaches, tomatoes, and many other familiar foods are fruits.

---

fruit Idioms  

1. see bear fruit; forbidden fruit.

---

Usage

To most of us, a fruit is a plant part that is eaten as a dessert or snack because it is sweet, but to a botanist a fruit is a mature ovary of a plant, and as such it may or may not taste sweet. All species of flowering plants produce fruits that contain seeds. A peach, for example, contains a pit that can grow into a new peach tree, while the seeds known as peas can grow into another pea vine. To a botanist, apples, peaches, peppers, tomatoes, pea pods, cucumbers, and winged maple seeds are all fruits. A vegetable is simply part of a plant that is grown primarily for food. Thus, the leaf of spinach, the root of a carrot, the flower of broccoli, and the stalk of celery are all vegetables. In everyday, nonscientific speech we make the distinction between sweet plant parts (fruits) and nonsweet plant parts (vegetables). This is why we speak of peppers and cucumbers and squash—all fruits in the eyes of a botanist—as vegetables.

Other Word Forms

• fruitlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of fruit

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin frūctus “enjoyment, profit, fruit,” equivalent to frūg-, variant stem of fruī “to enjoy the produce of” + -tus suffix of verbal action

Explanation

The fruit of something is what it produces, like the apples on apples trees, the grapes on grapevines, or the fruit of your labor, like the cake you baked. Fruit comes from the Latin fructus, whose root is frui, "to enjoy." The fruit of a plant, like an orange or banana, is the product of the plant that we enjoy. (You wouldn't munch on the orange tree's branch, would you?) But fruit is also the product of any work. A woven rug is the fruit of the loom, while an infant, figuratively, is called the fruit of the womb.

Example Sentences

“It’s not the end of the world,” Rehm said after buying a fruit cup at the senior center’s cafe.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

Meanwhile, demand for snack bars, meat snacks, and fruit snacks—viewed as more functional—are rising.

From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026

There is also a fenced garden in the backyard, ideal for those who want to grow fruit or vegetables.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 10, 2026

When fruit grower Ali Capper woke to news that war had broken out in Iran, she says she "felt quite sick" anticipating the repurcussions for the UK farming industry.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

I looked at the fruit in the bowl on the counter.

From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Related Words

• berry
• crop
• grain
• nut
• produce
• product