Oxheart

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A vegetable or fruit with a distinctive shape that resembles a heart, often used to describe certain tomatoes or beets
2. Refers to produce that has a rounded form tapering to a point, giving it a heart-like appearance
3. Describes plant-based food items shaped like a heart, commonly seen in varieties of tomatoes and other crops

Etymology: Oxheart is a plain compound: "ox" joined to "heart." The image behind it is the animal's heart, a large, broad organ that tapers to a point, and the name transfers that shape to produce. Gardeners apply it to certain large heart-shaped tomatoes and to some beets, which share the same blunt, rounded outline. The word is a noun and an adjective in use, so a tomato can be described as an oxheart in the same way the fruit itself is named. Its meaning rests entirely on the comparison, which is why the same name turns up across different vegetables that happen to look alike.