Grapefruit

How to spell grapefruit

10 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce grapefruit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does grapefruit mean?

1. nounA large round citrus fruit with a thick yellow or pinkish rind and a sharp, slightly bitter taste.

Grapefruit in a sentence

• She sliced a grapefruit in half and ate it with a spoon.

• The breakfast menu listed fresh grapefruit juice and toast.

Where does grapefruit come from?

Language of origin: French

Grapefruit is a transparent English compound, simply joining 'grape' and 'fruit', and it was coined in the Caribbean in the early 1800s, with the first printed records from Jamaica around 1814. The puzzling part is the 'grape' element, since the fruit is a large citrus quite unlike a grape; the name was chosen because the fruit hangs from the tree in tight clusters that resemble enormous bunches of grapes. The 'grape' half itself goes back through Old French 'grape', meaning a bunch or cluster of grapes, ultimately from a Germanic root tied to the idea of a hook used in picking. The 'fruit' half comes through Old French from the Latin 'fructus', meaning produce or enjoyment of the land, from 'frui', to enjoy. Because both parts are everyday words spelled exactly as you already know them, the spelling holds no surprise; the only thing to remember is that it is written as one solid word, not as 'grape fruit'.

How the word is built

• grape (the cluster-growing fruit)
• fruit (edible plant produce); a compound noun