shipova

English

Alternative forms

• shipover (so written by some nurseries in their catalogues)

Etymology

Propagated into the US 1959 from Yugoslavia—1986 again from Macedonia as smokvarka / смокварка (smokvarka)—, which itself has only grafts descending from a single tree described 1834 in the Parisian Jardin du Roi, as the hybrid’s fruits are mostly sterile. Given that the Serbo-Croatian accent is imitated in the current pronunciation, we can be confident to say that this word is from the Serbo-Croatian descendant of Proto-Slavic *šipъ used itself or in derivatives to refer to rosaceous plants + *-ovъ (suffix used to form relative adjectives) + *-a (feminine ending)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʃǐpova] (academic, NNSE), [ʃɪˈpowva] (Americanized)

Noun

shipova (plural shipovas)

1. A sweet edible fruit, a hybrid of the European pear (Pyrus communis) and the common whitebeam (Aria edulis, syn., Sorbus aria).
   • 2009 May 21, Anne Raver, “From Novel Fruits, a Lush Landscape”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     His latest book, “Landscaping With Fruit” (Storey, 2009), dives into the world of the little-known lingonberry, clove currant, maypop, shipova, hardy kiwi and other fruits that are easy to grow, he says, and as delicious as they are ornamental.