Lychee

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈlaɪ̯t͡ʃi/

Definitions

1. A tropical fruit featuring a bumpy, reddish skin that encases a fragrant, translucent flesh and contains a single pit
2. This exotic fruit is frequently added to drinks and sweets, prized for its delightful sweetness and unique aroma
3. A small tropical fruit with a rough, pinkish-red exterior that encloses aromatic, juicy flesh and has a single seed in its center

Etymology: The lychee's name comes from a Chinese word for a fruit that has been cultivated in southern China for well over two thousand years. In Cantonese the fruit is called "lai6 zi1" (荔枝), and in Hokkien it is "lē-chi," and English took the word from these southern Chinese dialects. The two versions have left English with a pair of spellings and pronunciations: "lychee" reflects the Cantonese form, while "litchi" and "lichi" reflect the Hokkien-based pronunciation, and these variants are doublets, meaning they are different English forms of one source word. The fruit's name is a reminder that the English word arrived through trade and travel rather than through scholarly Latin or French. Because the Cantonese and Hokkien words were heard by European speakers and rendered in spelling as best they could, the same fruit ended up with several forms in English, and dictionaries still record them side by side.

Synonyms: litchi, lychee fruit