fruit

SayFROOT/fɹut//fɹuːt/

8 meanings of fruit

1
seed-bearing partnouncountable or uncountable
The part of a plant that grows from the flower and holds the seeds, or any similar sweet or sour plant part eaten as food.
She keeps a bowl of apples, bananas and other fruit on the kitchen table.
The plant produces a small red fruit once the flowers fade.
UsageFor fruit as food in general, the singular is most common: eat more fruit; fruits suggests different kinds.
Note
For a botanist the test is origin, not taste. Whatever grows from a flower's ovary after fertilization counts, whether or not anyone would eat it. That is where a botanist and a cook can part ways: the cook's fruit, also covered by this definition, sorts by flavor and use rather than by how the structure formed.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Botanical classification depends on the structure's floral origin rather than its taste or edibility. nickrentlab.siu.edu
A flower's ovary developing after fertilization produces a botanical fruit; this states a sufficient condition, not a requirement that excludes fruits developing without fertilization. fairfaxgardening.org
Culinary classification differs from botanical classification and considers flavor. en.wikipedia.org
2
resultnouncountable or uncountable
The result, effect, or consequence of an action or effort, whether advantageous or harmful.
Her promotion was the fruit of a decade of quiet persistence.
The shaky truce was the bitter fruit of a long and costly war.
UsageSet phrases: an effort bears fruit when it pays off; people enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Similarresult, product, outcome, reward, consequence
Note
It cuts both ways: Shakespeare's Richard the Third speaks of "the fruit of rashness," while the King James Bible of 1611 promises the righteous that "they shall eat the fruit of their doings." The Latin behind the botanical word already meant profits and proceeds.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
William Shakespeare wrote King Richard III. gutenberg.org
Richard speaks the words "the fruit of rashness" in the play. gutenberg.org
The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
Isaiah 3:10 in the King James Bible addresses the righteous and contains the quoted promise. en.wikisource.org
The English word derives ultimately from Latin forms already carrying the meanings profits and proceeds. en.wiktionary.org
3
noununcountablebefore a noun
Relating to, made of, or having fruit; (of an animal) feeding on fruit.
The orchard is full of fruit trees heavy with apples.
Fruit bats play a key role in spreading seeds across the forest.
UsageStays singular before another noun: fruit juice (not ~~incorrect: fruits juice~~), a fruit tree.

Less common meanings

4
yield a cropverbintransitive
Of a plant or fungus, to bear fruit, seeds, or spores.
The orchard's pear trees fruit heavily after a mild winter.
Many mushrooms fruit overnight when the soil grows damp.
Similarcrop
Note
Orchard growers and mushroom hunters share this verb. Seedlings are counted by how many have fruited, and chanterelles fruit in summer while matsutake wait for the autumn cool. For fungi, it means putting up the spore-bearing body. David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks (2014) adds a casual particle, with plum trees "fruiting up."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
Seedlings have been counted according to whether they have fruited. en.wiktionary.org
Chanterelles fruit in summer. nrs.fs.usda.gov
Matsutake generally fruit when temperatures cool in autumn. research.fs.usda.gov
Fungal fruiting produces a structure that bears spores. rhs.org.uk
David Mitchell wrote The Bone Clocks. hachette.co.uk
The Bone Clocks was first published in 2014. cdn.waterstones.com
The novel describes plum trees as “fruiting up.” en.wiktionary.org
5
offspringnounarchaicuncountable
The offspring resulting from a sexual union; one's children.
The prince was the fruit of a union between two rival houses.
King Edward's fruit, true heir to the English crown
c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt,”
UsageSurvives mostly in set phrases like the fruit of one's loins; for plain reference, offspring is safer.
Note
An archaic sense that now survives mostly in fixed phrases: the fruit of one's loins, and the King James Bible of 1611's "blessed is the fruit of thy womb." Shakespeare could still have a queen call her unborn child "King Edward's fruit, true heir to the English crown."
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
The phrase 'fruit of one's loins' means one's children or descendants. en.wiktionary.org
The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
The King James Bible contains the quoted wording in Luke 1:42. en.wikisource.org
In Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3, Act 4, Scene 4, Queen Elizabeth calls her unborn child 'King Edward's fruit, true heir to the English crown.' shakespeare.mit.edu
The Shakespeare quotation has the stated wording. shakespeare.mit.edu
6
crazy personnouncolloquialcountable
A crazy or eccentric person, especially one who behaves oddly.
Everyone on the block thought she was a real fruit after she started barking back at the neighbor's dogs.
My landlady is a complete fruit who swears the moon landing was filmed in her basement.
Similarnut, crackpot, oddball, weirdo, kook
7
slur (gay)nounderogatoryoffensiveslurdatedcountable
A derogatory, dated slang term for a homosexual man, or, figuratively, an effeminate man.
His coworkers whispered that the new clerk was a fruit and kept their distance.
I'm not talking to this twisted fruit anymore!
1984, This is Spinal Tap, spoken by Ian Faith (Tony Hendra)
UsageHostile; recognize it in older writing and dialogue rather than use it.
Similargay, homosexual, queer, homo, fairy
Note
It appears in William S. Burroughs's Junky (1953) and is still an insult decades later, in This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and Daniel Clowes's Ghost World (1997). When it turns up in dialogue, it tells you about the speaker, not about the man being described.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
The derogatory term occurs in Burroughs's Junky. en.wiktionary.org
Burroughs's novel was first published in 1953, originally titled Junkie. exhibitions.library.columbia.edu
The term occurs as an insult in This Is Spinal Tap. en.wiktionary.org
This Is Spinal Tap was released in 1984. en.wikipedia.org
The term occurs as an insult in Daniel Clowes's Ghost World. en.wiktionary.org
Daniel Clowes created Ghost World, first published in book form in 1997. en.wikipedia.org
1997 is the first book publication year; serialization preceded it. en.wikipedia.org
8
noun
The spores of cryptogams (plants like ferns and mosses) together with their accessory organs.

Practice

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Origin

Latin frūctus ("enjoyment, proceeds, produce") and frūx ("crop, produce") go back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg-, a root meaning "to make use of, to enjoy." They gave Old French fruit ("produce, fruits and vegetables") and Middle English fruyt ("fruits and vegetables"), and the word replaced native Old English wæstm. English brook and German brauchen are cognates. The insulting uses for a "crazy person" or a "homosexual or effeminate man" may be a shortening of fruitcake, or they may have arisen on their own.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts

Latin frūctus meant enjoyment, proceeds and produce. en.wiktionary.org
Latin frūx meant crop or produce. en.wiktionary.org
Both Latin words descend from the reconstructed Indo-European root *bʰruHg-, meaning to use or enjoy. en.wiktionary.org
The Latin words underlie Old French fruit, whose meanings included produce, fruits and vegetables. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English fruyt came from Old French fruit and denoted fruit and other produce. en.wiktionary.org
Fruit displaced the native Old English word wæstm. en.wiktionary.org
English brook is cognate with the Latin ancestor of fruit. en.wiktionary.org
German brauchen belongs to the same cognate family. en.wiktionary.org
The derogatory senses may be shortenings of fruitcake or independent developments. en.wiktionary.org