citron

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French citron,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded from the 13th century in Old French for the citron, the lemon or the lime, the fruit meant often being hard to tell.^[2] Etymonline and Barnhart suggest it may have come through Old Occitan citron,^[7][8][6] and Dictionary.com through Italian citrone, with an augmentative suffix.^[3] The OED takes the French word as probably an alteration, after French limon (“lemon”), of Old French citre (“citron fruit”), from Latin citrum (“wood of the African citrus tree”), which in post-classical Latin also meant citron, from citrus (“African citrus tree”).^[2] Etymonline also allows an augmentative of citreum (“citron (apple)”).^[7] The further origin of the Latin tree name is uncertain: Klein derives it from Ancient Greek κέδρος (kédros, “cedar”) through Etruscan,^[9] the OED considers that route or a borrowing of both words from another, unidentified language,^[2] and Ayto presumes an Eastern origin.^[10] Ancient Greek κίτρον (kítron) is probably itself a loan from Latin.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fruit, about 1450,^[2] although the word is implied in 1391 by citronade, candied citron or orange peel, in an account of that year,^[11][8] and Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.^[7] Barnhart's first record of citron itself is 1526,^[8] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged's is 1530.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In early use the word also covered the lemon and perhaps the lime,^[4][2] and Etymonline says this lasted until the sense narrowed in the 17th century.^[7] French went the other way: the citron is there called cédrat, and citron now means the lemon.^[2][12] The word also came to name the fruit's colour, the adjective recorded from 1574 and the noun from 1612.^[2] From 1627 it was applied as well to the fragrant wood of the African citrus tree, the tree the Latin word first denoted.^[2] A liqueur flavoured with citron or lemon peel was called citron from 1709 to 1785.^[2] From 1826 the name passed to a melon with yellow-green flesh, and in the United States to a small, firm-fleshed watermelon.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1391 – implied in citronade, candied citron.^[11][8]
• c. 1425 – citrine, perhaps the citron, in a translation of Chauliac.^[11][8]
• c. 1450 – the fruit; early on also the lemon.^[2]
• 1540 – the tree, Citrus medica.^[2]
• 1574 – adjective, pale yellow or greenish yellow.^[2]
• 1612 – noun, the colour, in Jonson's The Alchemist.^[2]
• 1627 – the fragrant wood of the African citrus tree.^[2]
• 1709 – a liqueur of brandy flavoured with citron or lemon peel (obsolete by 1785).^[2]
• 1826 – a melon; later, in the United States, a small watermelon.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large citrus fruit like a lemon, with a thick, rough, scented rind and little juice: She grated a citron over the custard.^{[13][14][6][2]}
2. The small, thorny tree that bears this fruit, Citrus medica, native to Asia.^{[13][14][6][2]}
3. The candied rind of this fruit, used in cakes and sweets.^[13][14]
4. A small watermelon with firm white flesh, used for candying or pickling; the citron melon.^[13][14][6]
5. A pale yellow or greenish-yellow colour.^[13][2]

Adjective

1. Of a pale yellow or greenish-yellow colour: a citron scarf.^[2][4]

Word family

• citron melon
• citron wood

Related words

• citrus
• citrine
• citric
• citronella
• cedar
• lemon

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins