Link Centre Dictionary

grapefruit

gra·pef·ruit

UK/ˈɡɹeɪ̯pfɹuːt/ US/ˈɡɹɛjpfɹʉwt/ uncommon vulgar

noun

1.
2.

Origin

Widely assumed to be a marketing term from grape + fruit, an allusion to the supposed grapelike clusters of fruit on the tree, early 19th c. Ciardi proposes another theory: one of the pomelo's botanical names is Citrus grandis, meaning “great citrus [fruit]”, due to the size of its fruit. A new pomelo variety might first have been called a GRAYT-froot (see greatfruit), and through the process of assimilation, the word came to be pronounced GRAYP-froot.

Phrases

  • Chinese grapefruit
  • grapefruit ade
  • grapefruit juice
  • grapefruit knife
  • Grapefruit League
  • grapefruit mint
  • grapefruit spoon

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.