persimmon

• persimon, putchamin (obsolete)

From Powhatan pichamins, pushemins, pasimenan (“dried fruit”), from the same Proto-Algonquian root *-imin (“fruit, berry”) as Unami ximin. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɜːˈsɪmən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /pəɹˈsɪmən/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɜːsəmən/
• Hyphenation: per‧sim‧mon
• Rhymes: -ɪmən

persimmon (plural persimmons)

2. The orange fruit of any of various species of trees in the genus Diospyros, especially Diospyros kaki (the kaki or Japanese persimmon) or Diospyros virginiana (the wild American persimmon), which is sweet when ripe and astringent when immature.

   Synonyms: date plum (especially Diospyros lotus), kaki (especially Diospyros kaki), Sharon fruit (Israeli Diospyros kaki), possum apple (Diospyros virginiana), simmon (US colloquial)

   • 1998, Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents, HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP (2019), page 94:

     I warned them not to eat the persimmons until they were soft to the touch.

3. The tree this fruit grows on, generally one of two species of ebony: Diospyros kaki (Asian) or Diospyros virginiana (North American).

• persimmon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Diospyros on Wikispecies.Wikispecies