cranberry
cranberry Lexical Profile
cranberry Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The small, tart, red edible berry of a trailing evergreen shrub native to North America and northern Eurasia, extensively cultivated for use in juices, sauces, and baked goods.
"We served traditional roast turkey with a side of sweet and tangy cranberry sauce for the holiday dinner."
The creeping evergreen shrub (genus Vaccinium, subgenus Oxycoccus) that produces these red berries, typically growing in acidic bogs or wetlands in cool-temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
"The farmers flooded the bogs in autumn so that the ripe fruit would detach from the cranberry vines and float to the surface for easier harvesting."
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the 1640s, adapted from the German 'Kranichbeere' or Low German 'kraanbere' (crane-berry). The name likely arose because the plant's pale pink drooping flowers, with their stem, calyx, and petals, resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.