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persimmon

UK/pɜːˈsɪmən/US/pəɹˈsɪmən/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,235 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: persimmons

A persimmon is a sweet orange fruit that must be fully ripe. A ripe persimmon, eat the persimmon, persimmon jam.

The astringent varieties are inedible until soft to the point of collapse, since unripe flesh dries the mouth appallingly. The name comes from an Algonquian word meaning dried fruit.

Frank Schulenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of persimmon

  1. 1nounpersimmonA sweet orange fruit that must be fully ripe.B2+

    “Wait until the persimmon is soft and deep orange before you eat it.”

persimmon is a fruit.

Where it comes from

From an Algonquian word meaning dried fruit, taken into English by early settlers in Virginia.

  1. Proto-Algonquian

    *paᐧʔsamwa — dry

  2. pim

    pichamins

  3. English, today

    persimmon

Built from

  • pasimenan · pim — dried fruit
  • *mini · Proto-Algonquian — fruit, berry

From pim pichamins, pushemins, pasimenan (“dried fruit”), for the first element, compare Proto-Algonquian paᐧʔsamwa (“dry”). The second element is from the same Proto-Algonquian - root mini (“fruit, berry”) as unm ximin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

persimmon in the wild

  • The persimmon () is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros.

    Persimmon

  • The most widely cultivated of these is the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese kaki persimmon, Diospyros kaki.

    Persimmon

  • Individual species valued for their hard, heavy, dark timber, are commonly known as ebony trees, while others are valued for their fruit and known as persimmon trees.

    Diospyros

  • Both the tree and the fruit are referred to as persimmons, with the latter appearing in desserts and cuisine in the U.S.

    Diospyros virginiana

  • Another nickname of the American persimmon, 'date-plum' also refers to a persimmon species found in South Asia and South Europe, Diospyros lotus.

    Diospyros virginiana

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.