pomegranate
UK /ˈpɒmɪ(ˌ)ɡɹænɪt/ · US /ˈpɑmɪˌɡɹænɪt/ noun, adjective
Forms pomegranates
- noun The fruit of the Punica granatum, about the size of an orange with a thick, hard, reddish skin enclosing many seeds, each with an edible pink or red pulp tasting both sweet and tart.
- noun The shrub or small tree that bears the fruit.
- noun A dark red or orange-red colour, like that of the pulp or skin of a pomegranate fruit.
- noun (Australia, colloquial, derogatory, obsolete) A person of British descent, especially one who has (recently) immigrated to Australia; a pom, a pommy.
- adjective Of a colour like that of the pulp or skin of a pomegranate fruit; dark red or orange-red.
Synonyms
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English pome-garnet, pome-garnete, pome garnate, pome granat, pome-granate (“pomegranate fruit; pomegranate tree; pomegranate seeds (?)”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman pome gernate, pomme gernette, Middle French pomme granade, pomme granate, pomme grenade, and Old French pome grenade, pome grenate, pomme grenate [and other forms] (modern French grenade), probably from Italian pomogranato, pomo granato (though apparently first attested later), and then either:
* from Italian pomo (“fruit, pome; apple”) + Latin (mālum) grānātum, (mālo)grānātum (“pomegranate”); or
* directly from Medieval Latin pōmum garnātum, pōmum grānātum (“pomegranate”), from Latin pōmum (“fruit; fruit tree”) + grānātum (“pomegranate”). Pōmum is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂po-h₁ém-os (“taken off”) (in the sense of being picked off a plant), from *h₂epó (“away; off”) + *h₁em- (“to distribute; to take”); while grānātum is derived from grānātus (“having many grains or seeds”), from grānum (“grain, seed, small kernel”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to mature, grow old”) + *-nós (suffix forming verbal adjectives)) + -ātus (suffix forming adjectives indicating the possession of a quality or thing from nouns).
Displaced earlier Old English æppelcyrnel (literally: apple + kernel), itself a calque of the Latin term. The adjective is derived from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The fruit of the tree Punica Granatum; also, the tree itself (see Balaustine), which is native in the Orient, but is successfully cultivated in many warm countries, and as a house plant in colder climates. The fruit is as large as an orange, and has a hard rind containing many rather large seeds, each one separately covered with crimson, acid pulp.
- noun A carved or embroidered ornament resembling a pomegranate. Ex.
Etymology [OE. pomgarnet, OF. pome de grenate, F. grenade, L. pomum a fruit + granatus grained, having many grains or seeds. See Pome, and Garnet, Grain.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pomegranate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details