pomegranate

A pomegranate fruit (sense 1).

A pomegranate tree (sense 2).

The noun is derived from Middle English pome-garnet, pome-garnete, pome garnate, pome granat, pome-granate (“pomegranate fruit; pomegranate tree; pomegranate seeds (?)”) [and other forms],^[1] from Anglo-Norman pome gernate, pomme gernette, Middle French pomme granade, pomme granate, pomme grenade, and Old French pome grenade, pome grenate, pomme grenate [and other forms] (modern French grenade), probably from Italian pomogranato, pomo granato (though apparently first attested later), and then either:^[2]

• from Italian pomo (“fruit, pome; apple”) + Latin (mālum) grānātum, (mālo)grānātum (“pomegranate”); or
• directly from Medieval Latin pōmum garnātum, pōmum grānātum (“pomegranate”), from Latin pōmum (“fruit; fruit tree”) + grānātum (“pomegranate”). Pōmum is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂po-h₁ém-os (“taken off”) (in the sense of being picked off a plant), from *h₂epó (“away; off”) + *h₁em- (“to distribute; to take”); while grānātum is derived from grānātus (“having many grains or seeds”), from grānum (“grain, seed, small kernel”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to mature, grow old”) + *-nós (suffix forming verbal adjectives)) + -ātus (suffix forming adjectives indicating the possession of a quality or thing from nouns).

The adjective is derived from the noun.^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒmɪ(ˌ)ɡɹænɪt/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑmɪˌɡɹænɪt/, /ˈpɑməˌɡɹænət/, /ˈpɑmˌɡɹænət/
• Hyphenation: po‧me‧gra‧nate

pomegranate (plural pomegranates)

2. The fruit of the Punica granatum, about the size of an orange with a thick, hard, reddish skin enclosing many seeds, each with an edible pink or red pulp tasting both sweet and tart.
   • 1725, Homer, “Book VII”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 106, lines 148–151:

     Here the blue fig with luſcious juice o'erflows, / With deeper red the full pomegranate glows, / The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear, / And verdant olives flouriſh round the year.

   • 1834, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Temple of Isis.—Its Priest.—The Character of Arbaces Developes Itself.”, in The Last Days of Pompeii. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […]; successor to Henry Colburn, →OCLC, book I, page 68:

     In the walls of the cells, elevated on seven steps of Parian marble, various statutes stood in niches, and those walls were ornamented with the pomegranate consecrated to Isis.

   • 1851, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Legend, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 147:

     Another goblet! quick! and stir / Pomegranate juice and drops of myrrh / And calamus therein!

   • 2001, Vern L. Bullough, editor, Herbal Contraceptives and Abortifacients: Encyclopedia of Birth Control, page 125:

     The seeds of the pomegranate, for example, were widely used to prevent conception in the ancient world and they are still used in India, East Africa, and the Pacific.

   • 2005, Payam Nabarz, The Mysteries of Mithras: The Pagan Belief That Shaped the Christian World, page 79:

     Persephone is taken to the underworld by Hades to be his queen. She willingly eats a seed of pomegranate and is forced to spend every winter with her husband in the land of the dead, symbolizing the yearly decay and revival of vegetation. […] In Judaism, the number of seeds in a pomegranate is said to be the exact number of mitzvah, or spiritual duties required of a devout Jew.

   • 2006, Wayne Gisslen, Professional Cooking, College Version, page 683:

     The pomegranate is a subtropical fruit about the size of a large apple.

   • 2011, David Joachim, Fire It Up: 40 Recipes for Grilling Everything, page 310:

     The grilled leeks are then drizzled with a gorgeous, ruby-red pomegranate vinaigrette.

3. The shrub or small tree that bears the fruit.
   • 1644 February 18 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 8 February 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 41:

     I finish'd this day with a walke in the greate garden of the Thuilleries, which is rarely contrived for privacy, shade, or company, by groves, plantations of tall trees, especialy that in y^e middle, being of elmes, another of mulberys. There is a labyrinth of cypresse, noble hedges of pomegranates, fountaines, fishponds, and an aviary.

   • 1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, London: […] T[homas] Davison, […], for John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 13:

     On her fair cheek’s unfading hue, / The young pomegranate’s blossoms strew / Their bloom in blushes ever new— […]

   • 2005, Fahiem E. El-Borai, Larry W. Duncan, “12: Nematode Parasites of Subtropical and Tropical Fruit Tree Crops”, in M. Luc, Richard A. Sikora, J. Bridge, editors, Plant Parasitic Nematodes in Subtropical and Tropical Agriculture, 2nd edition, page 481:

     The pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) originates from Persia, and is cultivated in western and central Asia and in the Mediterranean region; it is also grown commercially in California. […] The predominant parasitic nematodes affecting pomegranate are the root knot nematodes, M.^{[Meloidogyne]} incognita, M. acrita and M. javanica (McSorley, 1981).

   • 2005, Payam Nabarz, The Mysteries of Mithras: The Pagan Belief That Shaped the Christian World, page 79:

     The pomegranate is the tree of knowledge in some myths. In others, it is linked with the underworld, […].

   • 2008, M. N. V. Prasad, Trace Elements as Contaminants and Nutrients, page 225:

     In this experiment, the average Zn concentration of leaf in four pomegranate cultivars was between 12.0 and 19.8mg/kg in the control (Fig. 2a).

4. A dark red or orange-red colour, like that of the pulp or skin of a pomegranate fruit.

   pomegranate:    

5. (Australia, colloquial, derogatory, obsolete) A person of British descent, especially one who has (recently) immigrated to Australia; a pom, a pommy.

• grenade
• grenadine (“cordial or drink made from pomegranates”)
• Appendix:Colors

pomegranate (comparative more pomegranate, superlative most pomegranate)

1. Of a colour like that of the pulp or skin of a pomegranate fruit; dark red or orange-red.
   • c. 1855, Charlotte Brontë, “Emma. (A Fragment of a Story by the Late Charlotte Brontë.)”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume I, number 4, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published April 1860, →OCLC, chapter II, pages 494–495:

     Many people would think Miss Wilcox, standing there in her blue merino dress and pomegranate ribbon, a very agreeable woman.

• pomegranate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• pomegranate (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Punica granatum on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Punica granatum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pomegranate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• magnoperate