Apricot

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ.pɹɪ.kɒt/

Definitions

1. A small, orange-yellow fruit that is soft to the touch and has a sweet-tart flavor, as well as the tree that produces it, which is noted for its beautiful flowers
2. This fruit, often used in culinary dishes for its sweetness, comes from a tree that thrives in certain climates and is valued for its blossoms
3. A sweet, soft-fleshed fruit with smooth, pale orange skin that is edible and commonly eaten fresh or dried ; a deciduous tree cultivated for its edible fruit, known for its attractive flowers and moderate size

Etymology: The fruit's name is a story of mistaken identity. Its ancestor was Latin "praecoquum" (apple) meaning "which ripens early," a description rather than a name, and the word travelled through Late Latin and Greek before reaching Arabic as "al-barqūq," meaning "plums." Europeans borrowed that Arabic term, and it was altered along the way: Catalan speakers shaped it into "albercoc," and dialectal forms like "abrecoc" passed into English as "abrecock." English then reshaped the word again. Speakers linked it to Latin "apricum," meaning "sunny place," which suited a fruit grown in warm climates, producing "apricock." French "abricot" then influenced the spelling further, and the modern form "apricot" emerged. The word is a doublet of "precocious," since both descend from the same Latin root meaning early ripening.

Synonyms: fruit, stone fruit, nectarine, peach, plum