Fruition

How to spell fruition

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce fruition

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fruition mean?

1. nounThe point at which a plan, hope, or effort is finally achieved or fulfilled.

Fruition in a sentence

• Years of research finally came to fruition when the product launched.

• The merger brought the founders' ambitions to fruition at last.

Where does fruition come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Fruition comes from the Latin verb frui, which meant 'to enjoy' or 'to have the use of', and from its noun fruitio, meaning 'enjoyment' or 'the act of enjoying'. The word entered English in the early 1400s by way of Old French, and at first it carried that original Latin sense of pleasurable enjoyment rather than completion. Because the spelling looked so much like 'fruit' (which also descends from frui, by way of fructus 'produce, fruit'), English speakers gradually reinterpreted the word as if it meant 'the bearing of fruit', and so the modern sense of a plan ripening into reality took hold. That happy confusion is the key to the spelling: there is no 'fruit' in fruition, despite the meaning, so it is spelled with frui- and then -tion, not 'fruit-ion'. The same frui root sits behind 'frugal' and 'fructose', a reminder of its long connection with produce and enjoyment.

How the word is built

• frui- (Latin: to enjoy)
• -tion (noun-forming suffix)