lemon
English
Etymology
From Middle English lymon, from Old French lymon (“citrus”), from Arabic لَيْمُون (laymūn) or Ottoman Turkish لیمون (limon), from Persian لیمو (limu).[1] Cognate with Sanskrit निम्बू (nimbū, “lime”).
Pronunciation
Noun
lemon (plural lemons)
- A yellowish citrus fruit.
- A semitropical evergreen tree, Citrus limon, that bears such fruits.
- A taste or flavour/flavor of lemons.
- A more or less bright shade of yellow associated with lemon fruits.
- lemon flesh:
- lemon rind:
- (slang) A defective or inadequate item or individual.
- He didn’t realise until he’d paid for it that the car was a lemon.
- 1951, Herman Wouk, chapter 20, in The Caine Mutiny, page 243:
- “ […] the Navy's supposed to give me a ship that goes, and a captain that fights—— That's what all this muck is for, isn't it?”
“Look, it's an old story by now. We're stuck with a lemon. Misfortune of war. […] ”
- (Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from “lemon flavour”) Favor.
- A thousand quid for that motor? Do me a lemon, I could get it for half that.
- (fandom slang) A piece of fanfiction involving explicit sex (named after the erotic anime series Cream Lemon).
Synonyms
Derived terms
- bitter lemon
- do me a lemon
- lemonade
- lemonade berry
- lemon balm
- lemon-belly
- lemon cheese
- lemon chiffon
- lemon chiffon pie
- lemon crab
- lemon curd
- lemon drop
- lemongrass
- lemon grass
- lemon juice
- lemon law
- lemon lime
- lemon meringue pie
- lemon myrtle
- lemon soda
- lemon sole
- lemon squash
- lemon-squeezer
- lemon squeezer
- lemon thyme
- lemon verbena
- lemon vervain
- lemony
- lemon yellow
- sit there like a lemon
Related terms
Translations
citrus fruit
|
tree
|
defective item
|
colour/color
|
taste
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
Adjective
lemon (comparative more lemon, superlative most lemon)
- Containing or having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons.
- Of the pale yellow colour/color of lemons.
- (Cockney rhyming slang, from "lemon tart") Smart; cheeky, vocal.
- 2009, Caitlin Moran, ‘Why I love paying tax’, The Times, 12 Oct 2009:
- Obviously Emin is not the first public figure to get lemon over tax increases.
- 2009, Caitlin Moran, ‘Why I love paying tax’, The Times, 12 Oct 2009:
Translations
having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons
|
having the colour/color of lemons
|
Verb
lemon (third-person singular simple present lemons, present participle lemoning, simple past and past participle lemoned)
- (transitive) To flavour with lemon.
- You can start the vegetables cooking while you are lemoning the fish.
See also
References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “lemon”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
Esperanto
Noun
lemon
- accusative singular of lemo
Welsh
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
lemon m (plural lemonau, not mutable)
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Arabic
- English terms derived from Ottoman Turkish
- English terms derived from Persian
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛmən
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English slang
- English terms with quotations
- English fandom slang
- Hakka terms with non-redundant manual script codes
- Min Nan terms with non-redundant manual script codes
- English adjectives
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Citrus subfamily plants
- en:Colors
- en:Fan fiction
- en:Fruits
- en:Yellows
- Esperanto non-lemma forms
- Esperanto noun forms
- Welsh terms derived from English
- Welsh terms with IPA pronunciation
- Welsh lemmas
- Welsh nouns
- Welsh countable nouns
- Welsh non-mutable terms
- Welsh masculine nouns
- cy:Fruits