Pomelo

English

Etymology

Widely assumed to be a marketing term from grape +‎ fruit, an allusion to the supposed grapelike clusters of fruit on the tree, early 19th c. Ciardi proposes another theory: one of the pummelo's botanical names is Citrus grandis, meaning "great citrus [fruit]", due to the size of its fruit. A new pummelo variety might first have been called a "greatfruit", and through the process of dissimilation, the word came to be pronounced "grapefruit".

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹeɪp.fɹuːt/

  (as grape + fruit, with stress on grape)

Noun

grapefruit (plural