fruity

Etymology

It is formed from English fruit + -y.^[2][3][4][5] The noun is from Old French fruit, from Latin frūctus (“enjoyment; produce, fruit”), from fruor (“to use, enjoy”).^[3] Green's Dictionary of Slang explains the slang senses separately: "rich, attractive" from fruit that is ripe for enjoyment, "crazy" from fruitcake, and "homosexual" from the slang use of the noun.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or like fruit: 1657, in Richard Ligon's True History of Barbados.^[2][7][8] Etymonline dates it to the 1650s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1650–60.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1843, in Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, the word was used of wine tasting of the grape.^[2][8] Around 1900 it gained a colloquial sense, rich or strong in quality, highly interesting or suggestive, like juicy and spicy;^[2][6] an American college glossary of 1900 defines it as "desirable".^[6] In British use it was then applied to a story full of scandal or a voice that is mellow and deep,^[4][9] and to something sexually suggestive.^[9][10] American slang added "crazy" (1915) and "homosexual, effeminate" (1932), the latter now offensive.^[6][9][11]

Timeline

• 1657 – of, relating to or like fruit.^[2][7]
• 1843 – of wine, tasting of the grape.^[2]
• 1900 – rich, highly interesting or suggestive; desirable.^[2][6]
• 1915 – slang, crazy.^[6]
• 1932 – slang, homosexual or effeminate.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing, relating to or like fruit, especially in taste or smell: a fruity jam.^{[9][11][10][2]}
2. Of wine: tasting richly of fruit or of the grape.^[7][2][10]
3. Of a voice: mellow, deep and rich.^[9][10][4]
4. (informal, chiefly British) Sexually suggestive; salacious.^[9][10]
5. (colloquial) Rich or strong in quality; highly interesting; juicy: a fruity bit of gossip.^[2][7][6]
6. Too sweet or sentimental.^[11]
7. (slang) Eccentric or crazy.^[9][11][6]
8. (offensive slang) Gay or effeminate.^[9][11][6]

Word family

• fruitiness
• fruitily
• unfruity

Related words

• fruit
• fruitcake

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt