kiwi fruit
Appearance
See also: kiwifruit
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Trade name used by exporters for one of several varieties selectively bred in New Zealand; named after the endemic New Zealand bird, the kiwi, because the fruit's fuzzy brown skin resembles the plumage of the bird. From Maori kiwi (“kiwi bird”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]kiwi fruit (plural kiwi fruit or kiwi fruits)
- A Chinese gooseberry vine fruit, having a hairy brown skin and dark green (or in the case of the kiwi fruit gold, yellow) flesh with fine black seeds, almost always varieties of Actinidia deliciosa.
- 1969, “Guide to Buying Fruit”, in “Buying, Storing, and Preparing”, in Better Homes and Gardens Salad Book, New York, N.Y.; Des Moines, Ia.: Better Homes and Gardens Books, published 1970 (2nd printing), page 146, column 1:
- Kiwi: Kiwi fruits are imported from New Zealand. Sometimes called Chinese gooseberries, these brown fuzzy-skinned fruits will be soft to the touch, like an avocado, when ripe. To serve this fruit, peel and slice.
- 1969 May 10, Cleveland Amory, “Review: The Galloping Gourmet”, in Merrill Panitt, editor, TV Guide, volume 17, number 19 (841 overall), Radnor, Pa.: Triangle Publications, Inc., →ISSN, page 32, columns 1–2:
- This particular program, he [Graham Kerr] told us, would be about the finest dish in the world—which turned out to be called Veal Cutlets Yerex. Natch. For this you apparently needed three kiwi fruits, but the idea infuriated him. “It’s not a kiwi fruit,” he told us. “That’s just the stupid, vulgar, idiotic, irresponsible name the New Zealand government has given it. It’s a Chinese gooseberry—obviously.”
- 1985, Samuel Shem [pseudonym; Stephen Joseph Bergman], chapter 8, in Fine: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s/Marek, →ISBN, page 76:
- Like you? You want me to see the world as you do? Pricks as bananas, twats as tacos, and tits as mangoes, kiwi fruits, and ten different kinds of melon?! At the aquarium, do you see fish? At the funhouse, do you have fun? Making love?—fruit salad!
- 1987, Christina Hardyment, “Picking up Gold and Silver”, in Heidi’s Alp: One Family’s Search for Storybook Europe, Book Club edition, New York, N.Y.: The Atlantic Monthly Press, →OCLC, page 100:
- A small bottle of sparkling Rhineland wine was the centrepiece; beside it was a large marzipan pastry topped with strawberries. Kiwi fruits, grapes and pears were set around it.
Synonyms
[edit]fruit
- Chinese gooseberry
- kiwi (US and UK informal; rare in New Zealand and Australia)
- yangtao
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]fruit
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