lemon

See also: Lemon

English

Wikispecies

A whole and a cut lemon.
A lemon tree.

Etymology

From Middle English lymon, from Old French lymon (“citrus”), from Arabic لَيْمُون‎ (laymūn) or Ottoman Turkish لیمون‎ (limon), from Persian لیمو‎ (limu).[1] Cognate with Sanskrit निम्बू (nimbū, “lime”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈlɛmən/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛmən

Noun

lemon (plural lemons)

  1. A yellowish citrus fruit.
  2. A semitropical evergreen tree, Citrus limon, that bears such fruits.
  3. A taste or flavour/flavor of lemons.
  4. A more or less bright shade of yellow associated with lemon fruits.
    lemon flesh colour:  
    lemon rind colour:  
  5. (slang) A defective or inadequate item or individual.
    He didn’t realise until he’d paid for it that the car was a lemon.
    • 1951, Herman Wouk, chapter 20, in The Caine Mutiny, page 243:
      “ […] the Navy's supposed to give me a ship that goes, and a captain that fights—— That's what all this muck is for, isn't it?”
      “Look, it's an old story by now. We're stuck with a lemon. Misfortune of war. […] ”
  6. (Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from “lemon flavour”) Favor.
    A thousand quid for that motor? Do me a lemon, I could get it for half that.
  7. (fandom slang) A piece of fanfiction involving explicit sex (named after the erotic anime series Cream Lemon).

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Adjective

lemon (comparative more lemon, superlative most lemon)

  1. Containing or having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons.
  2. Of the pale yellow colour/color of lemons.
  3. (Cockney rhyming slang, from "lemon tart") Smart; cheeky, vocal.
    • 2009, Caitlin Moran, ‘Why I love paying tax’, The Times, 12 Oct 2009:
      Obviously Emin is not the first public figure to get lemon over tax increases.

Translations

Verb

lemon (third-person singular simple present lemons, present participle lemoning, simple past and past participle lemoned)

  1. (transitive) To flavour with lemon.
    You can start the vegetables cooking while you are lemoning the fish.

See also

References
  1. “lemon” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

Anagrams

Esperanto

Noun

lemon

  1. accusative singular of lemo
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