persimmon [per-sim-uh n] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- any of several trees of the genus Diospyros, especially D. virginiana, of North America, bearing astringent, plumlike fruit that is sweet and edible when ripe, and D. kaki, of Japan and China, bearing soft, red or orange fruit.
- the fruit itself.
Origin of persimmon 1605–15, Americanism; Virginia Algonquian (E spelling) pessemmins, pichamins, pushemins, putchamins (unidentified initial element + reflex of Proto-Algonquian *-min- fruit, berry) Examples from the Web for persimmon Contemporary Examples of persimmon
Sometimes the flowers multiplied in shades of persimmon or turned into two-dimensional appliqué.
Miuccia Prada and Emporio Armani: Milan Spring 2013 Collections
Robin Givhan
September 21, 2012
The beautiful garden is completely bare except for one persimmon tree that has no leaves.
One Woman’s Formula for Change
Lynn Sherr
March 12, 2010
Historical Examples of persimmon
This field we overlooked through a fence-row of persimmon and wild plum.
George Washington Cable
He soon discovered, of course, that the longest pole knocked the persimmon.
R. W. Wright
The persimmon has only about ten days in which it will fall bud.
Northern Nut Growers Association Thirty-Fourth Annual Report 1943
Various
I have been in the forest, under the persimmon and butternut trees.
John Beatty
There was a fruity odour of persimmon and wild grape forever in the air.
Alice MacGowan
British Dictionary definitions for persimmon persimmon noun
- any of several tropical trees of the genus Diospyros, typically having hard wood and large orange-red fruit: family Ebenaceae
- the sweet fruit of any of these trees, which is edible when completely ripe
See also ebony (def. 1) Word Origin for persimmon C17: of Algonquian origin; related to Delaware pasĭmĕnan dried fruit Word Origin and History for persimmon n.
1610s, from Powhatan (Algonquian) pasimenan “fruit dried artificially,” from pasimeneu “he dries fruit,” containing proto-Algonquian */-min-/ “fruit, berry.”