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ripen

UK/ˈɹaɪpən/US/ˈɹaɪpən/
verbB2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,208 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: ripening, ripened, ripens

To ripen is to become ready to eat. Ripen on the windowsill, let it ripen, ripened in the sun.

Some fruit ripens after picking and some does not: bananas and avocados go on ripening, and strawberries and grapes simply rot. The gas that does it is ethylene, which is why a banana in a paper bag will ripen everything beside it.

Dominique Hessel · CC BY 3.0

Definitions of ripen

  1. 1verbripenTo become ready to eat.B2

    “Leave the tomatoes on a sunny windowsill to ripen.”

ripen is a maturing.

Where it comes from

Old English ripian, from ripe, from a Germanic root meaning ready for harvest. Reap is a relative.

  1. Old English

    rīpian

  2. Middle English

    *ripenen

  3. English, today

    ripen

Built from

  • ripening · Middle English — causing ripeness, ripening

From Middle English ripenen, extended form of ripen, from Old English rīpian. In the modern form, equivalent to ripe + en. As in several other verbs, the alteration seems to have occurred during the time when the infinitive and plural ending -en was in the process of being lost (and was thus open to reinterpretation). The earliest attestation is deverbal ripening (“causing ripeness, ripening”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

Practise this word

ripen in the wild

  • Mulatos are poblanos that ripen to a dark brown when fully mature.

    Mulato pepper

  • Other poblano varieties ripen to a red color, are harvested somewhat earlier, and when dried are called ancho peppers.

    Mulato pepper

  • In general, fruit becomes sweeter, less green, and softer as it ripens.

    Ripening

  • Even though the acidity of fruit increases as it ripens, the higher acidity level does not make the fruit seem tarter.

    Ripening

  • While typically bright yellow, it is possible for them to change to green, red, or orange as they ripen.

    Banana pepper

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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.

Related words

  • ripe