Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small evergreen tree (Eriobotrya japonica) in the rose family, native to China and Japan, having fragrant white flowers and pear-shaped yellow fruit with large seeds.
  • noun The edible fruit of this plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An evergreen shrub or tree, Photinia (Eryobotrya) Japonica, native in China and Japan, and commonly introduced in warm temperate climates.
  • noun The fruit of this tree. Also called biwa, lukwati, pipa, and Japanese medlar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) The fruit of the Japanese medlar (Photinia Japonica). It is as large as a small plum, but grows in clusters, and contains four or five large seeds. Also, the tree itself.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The Eriobotrya japonica tree.
  • noun The fruit of this tree. It is as large as a small plum, but grows in clusters, and contains four or five large seeds.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun yellow olive-sized semitropical fruit with a large free stone and relatively little flesh; used for jellies
  • noun evergreen tree of warm regions having fuzzy yellow olive-sized fruit with a large free stone; native to China and Japan

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Cantonese lou4 gwat1 (literally, reed tangerine, perhaps because it grows best in moist rich lowland soil ) : lou4, a species of reed (from Middle Chinese luə̆; also the source of Mandarin ) + gwat1, mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata), tangerine (from Middle Chinese kjyt; also the source of Mandarin ; see kumquat).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Chinese Cantonese trad. 蘆橘, simpl. 芦橘 (pinyin: lou4 gwat1) (older word) Related to kumquat – same second character.

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Examples

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  • A small evergreen tree native to China and Japan, cultivated as an ornamental and for its yellow, plumlike fruit; or the fruit itself. Also called Japanese plum.

    August 22, 2007

  • Citation on impluvium.

    January 2, 2012