fruiterer

English

WOTD – 14 November 2018

Etymology

A fruiterer’s roadside stall in Senegal

From Late Middle English fruiterē̆r (“fruit grower; fruit dealer”), from fruitē̆r (“fruit dealer; household official having charge of fruit”) + -er (it is unclear why the second suffix was added). Fruitē̆r is derived from Anglo-Norman fruitier or French fruitier (“fruit-seller”), from fruit (“fruit”) (from Latin frū̆ctus (“produce, product, fruit; enjoyment, satisfaction”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to have enjoyment of; make use of”)) + -ier (“suffix forming names of jobs”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹuːtəɹə/, /ˈfɹuːtɹə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹutəɹə/, /-ɾə-/
• Hyphenation: fruit‧er‧er

Noun

fruiterer (plural fruiterers)

1. (British) One who sells fruit.

   Synonyms: fruitmonger, fruitseller

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     [T]he very ſame day did I fight with one Samſon Stockefiſh a Fruiterer behinde Greyes Inne: Ieſu, Ieſu, the mad dayes that I haue ſpent!

   • 1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, “‘I Lull a Fancy, Trouble-Tost’”, in A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume III, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 24:

     And Knight laughed, and drew her close and kissed her the second time, which operations he performed with the carefulness of a fruiterer touching a bunch of grapes so as not to disturb their bloom.

   • 1962, Ezekiel Mphahlele, “The Nationalist”, in The African Image, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A. Praeger, →OCLC, page 70:

     A good few Indian fruiterers who were right in the centre of Johannesburg never made the 'mistake' of serving a black man, or even another Indian, before a white customer, no matter who had come first.

Coordinate terms

• coster
• costermonger
• greengrocer

Derived terms

• fruiteress

Related terms

• fruit

Translations

one who sells fruit

• Afrikaans: vrugteboer
• Albanian: frytdhënës (sq)
• Amharic: ፍሬያሪ (fəreyari)
• Armenian: մրգավաճառ (hy) (mrgavačaṙ)
• Assamese: ফল ধৰা (phol dhora)
• Asturian: fruteru (ast) m, frutera (ast) f
• Bengali: ফলবিক্রেতা (pholbikreta)
• Catalan: fruiter m, fruitera f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水果商 (shuǐguǒshāng)

• Czech: ovocnář (cs) m
• Finnish: hedelmäkauppias
• French: fruitier (fr) m, fruitière (fr) f
• Galician: froiteiro (gl) m
• German: Obsthändler (de) m, Obsthändlerin (de) f, Obsthöke m, Obsthökin f, Obsthöker m, Obsthökerin f, Obstkrämer m, Obstkrämerin f, Obstmann m, Obstfrau f
• Greek: οπωροπώλης (el) m (oporopólis), οπωροπώλισσα (el) f (oporopólissa)
• Italian: fruttivendolo (it) m, fruttivendola (it) f, verduriere m
• Ottoman Turkish: میوه‌جی (meyveci)
• Portuguese: fruteiro m, fruteira f
• Romanian: fructar (ro) m (rare)
• Russian: торго́вец фру́ктами m (torgóvec frúktami), торго́вка фру́ктами f (torgóvka frúktami)
• Spanish: frutero (es) m, frutera (es) f, verdulero (es) m, verdulera (es) f
• Tagalog: magpuprutas
• Turkish: meyveci (tr)
• Ukrainian: плодівник (plodivnyk),

садівник (sadivnyk), торговець фруктами (torhovecʹ fruktamy)

• Volapük: flukemihiselan m, flukemijiselan f, flukemiselan m or f

Further reading

• greengrocer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia