entry
pomegranate
/ˈpɑmɪˌɡrænɪt/A red fruit packed with juicy edible seeds
From Latin, via Old French pome (Fruit or apple) + Latin, via Medieval Latin and Old French grenate (Having grains or seeds) + Latin granum (Grain).
from Medieval Latin pomum granatum , literally "apple with many seeds,"
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade ) and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to mature, grow old”) + *-nós (suffix forming verbal adjectives)) + -ātus (suffix...
from Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade ) and directly
from Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade ) and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade ) and directly
Word Ancestry
from Medieval Latin pomum granatum , literally "apple with many seeds,"
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade ) and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to mature, grow old”) + *-nós (suffix forming verbal adjectives)) + -ātus (suffix...
from Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade ) and directly
from Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade ) and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade ) and directly
Cut open a pomegranate and you find a tiny red metropolis: hundreds of jewel-like seeds packed inside a leathery shell. Medieval French speakers called it a *pome grenade*—literally an “apple with grains”—and English borrowed the phrase around 1300 as *pome garnet*, briefly making the fruit sound as if it were related to a gemstone. The “pome” half ultimately goes back to Latin *pōmum*, a general word for fruit that narrowed toward “apple,” while *grenate* grew from Latin *grānum*, “grain” or “seed.” That same seed-word family produced *grain*, *gram*, and *granary*; meanwhile, *grenade* took its name from the fruit’s many-seeded appearance, and Spanish *Granada* may preserve the same association—though a Moorish place-name origin is also proposed. Ancient Iranians domesticated the fruit roughly 5,000 years ago, so every time you split one open, you are handling a botanical object whose name still says exactly what astonished Europeans: an apple overflowing with grains.
The Story
Cut open a pomegranate and you find a tiny red metropolis: hundreds of jewel-like seeds packed inside a leathery shell. Medieval French speakers called it a *pome grenade*—literally an “apple with grains”—and English borrowed the phrase around 1300 as *pome garnet*, briefly making the fruit sound as if it were related to a gemstone. The “pome” half ultimately goes back to Latin *pōmum*, a general word for fruit that narrowed toward “apple,” while *grenate* grew from Latin *grānum*, “grain” or “seed.” That same seed-word family produced *grain*, *gram*, and *granary*; meanwhile, *grenade* took its name from the fruit’s many-seeded appearance, and Spanish *Granada* may preserve the same association—though a Moorish place-name origin is also proposed. Ancient Iranians domesticated the fruit roughly 5,000 years ago, so every time you split one open, you are handling a botanical object whose name still says exactly what astonished Europeans: an apple overflowing with grains.
Modern Usage
A joking punchline or exclamation in some informal usage
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries describing the fruit and a recurring joke punchline
Kin & Kindred
From 'pome'·Fruit or apple
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'grenate'·Having grains or seeds
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'granum'·Grain, seed, or small kernel
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia