apricot

Meanings

1. A small, orange fruit with a soft, fuzzy skin and a single hard stone inside.
2. A soft orange-pink color.

Example sentences

• "She spread apricot jam on her toast."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "The apricot tree blooms early in spring."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "I like dried apricots as a snack."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "He painted the wall a pale apricot color."

  Level B1, Meaning 2

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• peach : A peach is larger and has more fuzz. An apricot is smaller and has smoother skin.
• plum : A plum is purple or red and juicier. An apricot is orange.

Word family and forms

Forms: apricots

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "apricot".

• a ripe apricot
• dried apricots
• apricot jam
• an apricot tree
• apricot juice
• an apricot color

Origin

Apricot came into English in the 1500s from French abricot. The French word came from Iberian words such as Spanish and Portuguese ones, which go back to Arabic and, further back, to a Latin word that meant ripening early. The first part of the English spelling was changed by a mix-up with a Latin word meaning a sunny place.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Apricot has a cot at the end. Picture a tiny orange fruit asleep in a cot.

Test yourself

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