dragon fruit

See also: dragonfruit

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From dragon +‎ fruit; most likely a calque or literal translation of a term in a Southeast Asian language (compare Chinese 火龍果／火龙果 (huǒlóngguǒ, literally “fiery dragon fruit”). Initial English texts cite Vietnamese thanh long; however, this was constructed differently, being a Sino-Vietnamese term for "Azure Dragon" (青龍) re-used to reference the green, "unripe" color of the fruit. First attributed in 1963.[1][2]

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɹæɡ.ən ˌfɹuːt/

Noun

dragon fruit (plural dragon fruits)

  1. The fruit of certain cacti of the genus (Stenocereus (syn. Hylocereus) spp.), cultivated in Southeast Asia and Central and South America, having cerise-pink- or yellow-coloured skin and a white or pink sweet fleshy interior with black seeds.

Synonyms

Descendants
  • → Dutch: drakenvrucht (calque)
  • → Thai: แก้วมังกร (gɛ̂ɛo-mang-gɔɔn) (calque)

Translations

References
  1. “dragon fruit, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2019.
  2. “dragon fruit”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.