lemon

American  

[lem-uhn] / ˈlɛm ən /

noun

lemons plural

1. the yellowish, acid fruit of a subtropical citrus tree, Citrus limon.

2. the tree itself.

3. lemon yellow.

4. Informal. a person or thing that proves to be defective, imperfect, or unsatisfactory; dud.

   His car turned out to be a lemon.

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adjective

1. made of or with lemon.

2. having the color, taste, or odor of lemon.

lemon British  

/ ˈlɛmən /

noun

1. a small Asian evergreen tree, Citrus limon, widely cultivated in warm and tropical regions, having pale green glossy leaves and edible fruits

2. 1. the yellow oval fruit of this tree, having juicy acidic flesh rich in vitamin C

   2. ( as modifier )

      a lemon jelly

3. Also called: lemon yellow. 

   1. a greenish-yellow or strong yellow colour

   2. ( as adjective )

      lemon wallpaper

4. a distinctive tart flavour made from or in imitation of the lemon

5. slang a person or thing considered to be useless or defective

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• lemon-like
  adjective
• lemonish
  adjective
• lemonlike
  adjective
• lemony
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• lemons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of lemon

1350–1400; 1905–10 lemon for def. 4; < Medieval Latin lemōnium; replacing Middle English lymon < Medieval Latin līmō, (stem līmōn- ) < Persian līmū, līmun

Explanation

A lemon is a sour yellow fruit. Squeeze one to make lemonade or add flavor to hot tea. Lemon is also what people call something that doesn’t work well, like a bum car. You can use the word lemon for the evergreen tree whose blossoms become bright yellow fruit, or for the fruit itself — or even the color of the fruit. Lemons are originally from Asia, but they also grow well in the Mediterranean, Florida, and California. They like sunny places. Informally, you can also use lemon to mean "an unsatisfactory or poorly made example of something," so you could say, "Most Volvos are great, but this car is a lemon."

Example Sentences

The fan festival at Lemon Hill welcomed the largest single-day crowd of any host city supporters party in the U.S. with nearly 55,000 people watching on the big screen during USA's second group match.

From BBC • Jul. 1, 2026

The bill seems to have put little dent in the caseload: Lemon lawsuits surged to record levels the following year.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2026

Lemon zest is the obvious choice, but after reading this recipe by Bibi Hutchings, I’ve become increasingly fond of orange zest with beans.

From Salon • Jun. 16, 2026

But the media attention generated by the dispute turned out to be great publicity: the brewery nearly sold out of John Lemon in a matter of days.

From Barron's • May 5, 2026

There was a story, for instance, about how Curt Lemon had gone trick-or-treating on Halloween.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien