noun
- the downy, yellow, sometimes rosy fruit, somewhat resembling a small peach, of the tree Prunus armeniaca.
- the tree itself.
- a pinkish yellow or yellowish pink.
- Also called wild apricot. Chiefly South Midland U.S. the maypop vine and its fruit; passionfruit.
noun
- a rosaceous tree, Prunus armeniaca, native to Africa and W Asia, but widely cultivated for its edible fruit
- the downy yellow juicy edible fruit of this tree, which resembles a small peach
1550s, abrecock, from Catalan abercoc, related to Portuguese albricoque, from Arabic al-birquq, through Byzantine Greek berikokkia from Latin (malum) praecoquum “early-ripening (fruit)” (see precocious). Form assimilated to French abricot.
Latin praecoquis early-ripe, can probably be attributed to the fact that the fruit was considered a variety of peach that ripened sooner than other peaches …. [Barnhart]
The older Latin name for it was prunum Armeniacum or malum Armeniacum, in reference to supposed origin in Armenia. As a color name, first attested 1906.