citrus
/ˈsɪtɹəs/ noun, adjective, proper noun
Forms citruses citri citrusses
- noun Any of several shrubs or trees of the genus Citrus in the family Rutaceae.
- noun The fruit of such plants, generally spherical, oblate, or prolate, consisting of an outer glandular skin (called zest), an inner white skin (called pith or albedo), and generally between 8 and 16 sectors filled with pulp consisting of cells with one end attached to the inner skin. Citrus fruits include orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, and citron.
- adjective Of, relating to, or similar to citrus plants or fruit.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Latin citrus (“a citron tree, thuja”), probably via Etruscan from Ancient Greek κέδρος (kédros); compare Middle English citurtre, cytyr tre. Thus a possible doublet of cedar.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A genus of trees including the orange, lemon, citron, etc., originally natives of southern Asia.
Etymology [L., a citron tree.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “citrus”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details