lemon
lemon Lexical Profile
lemon Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A yellow, oval citrus fruit with thick skin and fragrant, highly acidic juice.
"She squeezed a fresh lemon over the grilled fish to enhance its flavor."
A product, especially an automobile, that is defective, unreliable, or highly unsatisfactory.
"The used car he bought turned out to be a lemon, breaking down three times in the first month."
The small evergreen citrus tree (Citrus limon), native to Asia, that produces this yellow fruit.
"They planted a lemon in their backyard hoping to harvest their own citrus in a few years."
• adjective
Flavored with, containing, or made from lemons.
"The bakery is renowned for its delicate lemon tart and accompanying pastries."
Of a pale, bright yellow color resembling that of the citrus fruit.
"She wore a vibrant lemon dress that perfectly matched the sunny weather."
Word Nuance & Usage
While primarily referring to the fruit, 'lemon' is widely used in informal contexts, especially in North America, to describe a product (most notably an automobile) that proves to be severely defective.
• Rhymes for lemon
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Middle English (around the early 15th century), from Old French 'limon', via Arabic 'laymūn' or Persian 'līmūn', ultimately stemming from an Austronesian or Indo-Aryan language source.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.