fruit
Pluralfruits
Pluralfruits
Formsfruits, fruiting, fruited
- 1The part of a plant that holds its seeds, like an apple, or a similar sweet or sour plant part people eat.
Like a natural box a plant grows to keep its seeds safe inside.
Try to eat more fruit and vegetables.
Apples and oranges are my favorite fruits.
UsageSay eat more fruit. Fruits often means different kinds of fruit.
Note
- 2The result you get from your work or actions, whether good or bad.
Like picking apples in fall after caring for the tree all summer.
The award was the fruit of years of hard work.
Good grades are the fruit of steady study.
UsageAn effort bears fruit when it brings good results. You can enjoy the fruits of your work.
Similarresult, product, outcome, reward, consequence
Note
- 3Having to do with fruit, or with eating or growing it.
A fruit tree can take years to grow.
Fruit bats feed at night.
UsageSay fruit juice, fruit tree, with no s.
Less common meanings
- 4To grow and make fruit, seeds, or spores.
Apple trees usually fruit in late summer.
These plants will fruit only after two years.
Similarcrop
Note
- 5An old word for a person's child or children.
The child was the fruit of their long marriage.
King Edward's fruit, true heir to the English crown
c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt,”Here, fruit means a person's child.UsageToday people say children or offspring instead.
Note
- 6
- 7A rude, old word for a gay man, or for a man seen as girlish.
He was tired of being called a fruit just because he was gay.
I'm not talking to this twisted fruit anymore!
1984, This is Spinal Tap, spoken by Ian Faith (Tony Hendra)Here, fruit is a rude, old slang word for a gay man.UsageThis word is an insult. Do not use it.
Similargay, homosexual, queer, homo, fairy
Note
- 8The spores of plants such as ferns and mosses, along with their parts.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English fruyt, from Old French fruit, from Latin frūctus meaning produce or profit. In its insulting senses it may be a shortening of fruitcake.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- English fruit derives from Middle English fruyt, from Old French fruit, from Latin frūctus. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin frūctus means produce or profit. en.wiktionary.org
- In its insulting senses, fruit may be a shortening of fruitcake. en.wiktionary.org