dragon fruit
dragon fruit on a market stall in Taiwan
Meaning
Noun
- The fruit of certain cacti of the genus Hylocereus (genus), cultivated in Southeast Asia and Central and South America, having cerise-pink- or yellow-coloured skin and a white or pink sweet fleshy interior with black seeds.
Related
Similar words
- pitaya, strawberry pear, thanh long
Origin
- dragon + fruit; most likely a calque or literal translation of a term in a Southeast Asian language (compare Chinese 火龍果. Initial English texts cite Vietnamese thanh long; however, this was constructed differently, being a Sino-Vietnamese term for "Azure Dragon" (青龍) re-used to reference the green, "unripe" color of the fruit. First attributed in 1963.
Modern English dictionary
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