Grapelike

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. possessing a visual or physical quality that resembles clusters of grapes in both form and texture
2. Having characteristics similar to a bunch of grapes, such as a clustered shape or a textured surface that looks like grape groups
3. Showing a form or surface quality that is evocative of tightly packed grape bunches, both visually and physically

Etymology: "Grapelike" is a plain compound: "grape" with the suffix "-like", meaning "resembling" or "having the form of". The first half traces back through Old French "grappe", a bunch or cluster, and earlier to Frankish "krappo", a hook, which fits the way grapes hang in tight bunches from a stem. Grape reached English in Middle English, and the word has been applied to grapes ever since, so the sense of the whole is transparent. The second half is the older and more productive part. The suffix descends from Old English "-līc", which meant "having the form or appearance of", and it is related to the noun "lic", meaning body. That makes "-like" a close cousin of "-ly" and "-ish", and English has long used it to build adjectives from almost any noun, from "childlike" to "wavelike".

Synonyms: vine-like, clustered, bunchy

Antonyms: unclustered, dispersed