dragon fruit

See also: dragonfruit

English

dragon fruit on a market stall in Taiwan

Alternative forms

dragonfruit

Etymology

dragon +‎ fruit; most likely a calque or literal translation of a term in a Southeast Asian language (compare Chinese 火龍果／火龙果 (literally “fiery dragon fruit”). Initial English texts cite Vietnamese thanh long; however, this was constructed differently, being a Sino-Vietnamese term for "Azure Dragon" (青龍) re-used to reference the green, "unripe" color of the fruit. First attributed in 1963.[1][2]

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɹæɡ.ən ˌfɹuːt/

Noun

dragon fruit (plural dragon fruits)

The fruit of certain cacti of the genus Hylocereus, cultivated in Southeast Asia and Central and South America, having cerise-pink- or yellow-coloured skin and a white or pink sweet fleshy interior with black seeds.

Synonyms

(fruit of certain cacti): pitaya, strawberry pear, thanh long

Descendants

→ Dutch: drakenvrucht (calque)
→ Thai: แก้วมังกร (gɛ̂ɛo-mang-gɔɔn) (calque)

Translations

fruit

Afrikaans: draakvrug, pitaja
Arabic: فَاكِهَة تِنِّين‎ f (fākihat tinnīn)
Bengali: পিতায়া (pit‌ôaya)
Bulgarian: пита́я (bg) f (pitája)
Burmese: နဂါးမောက် (na.ga:mauk), နဂါးမောက်သီး (na.ga:mauksi:)
Central Huasteca Nahuatl: chacha
Chinese:
Cantonese: 火龍果, 火龙果 (fo² lung⁴ gwo²)
Hakka: 火龍果, 火龙果 (fó-liùng-kó)
Mandarin: 火龍果／火龙果 (zh) (huǒlóngguǒ), 龍珠果／龙珠果 (zh) (lóngzhūguǒ)
Min Nan: 火龍果, 火龙果 (hóe-liông-kó, hé-liông-kó)
Dutch: drakenvrucht f, pitaya m
Esperanto: drakofrukto
Finnish: pitahaya (fi), pitaya
French: fruit du dragon (fr) m, pitaya (fr) m or f, pitahaya (fr) m or f
Galician: pitaia (gl) f
German: Drachenfrucht (de) f, Pitahaya (de) f, Pitaya f
Greek: φρούτο του δράκου n (froúto tou drákou)
Gujarati: ડ્રેગનફ્રુટ (ḍregnaphruṭ), પિતાયા (pitāyā)
Hungarian: pitaja
Indonesian: buah naga
Italian: frutto del drago m
Japanese: ドラゴンフルーツ (doragonfurūtsu), ピタヤ (pitaya)
Javanese: woh naga
Kannada: ಡ್ರ್ಯಾಗನ್ ಹಣ್ಣು (ḍryāgan haṇṇu)
Kazakh: питахайя (pitaxaiä)
Khmer: ស្រការនាគ (srɑɑkaaniək), ស្រកានាគ (srɑkaa niək)
Korean: 용과 (yonggwa), 피타야 (pitaya)
Lak: питайя (pitayaˤ)
Lao: ໝາກມັງກອນ (māk mang kǭn)
Latvian: pitaija f
Lü: ᦶᦂᧁᧉᦙᧂᦂᦸᧃ (k̇aew²mangk̇oan)
Malay: buah naga (ms)
Malayalam: ഡ്രാഗൺ പഴം (ḍrāgaṇ paḻaṃ)
Mari:
Western Mari: питайя (pitajâ)
Mongolian: луу жимс (luu žims)
Nahuatl:
Central Huasteca Nahuatl: chacha
Classical Nahuatl: tzaponochtli
Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: chacha
Western Huasteca Nahuatl: chacha
Polish: pitaja (pl) f, smoczy owoc (pl) m
Portuguese: pitaia f, pitaya f, rainha-da-noite f, dama-da-noite (pt) f
Russian: пита́йя (ru) f (pitájja), пита́хайя (ru) f (pitáxajja), питаха́йя (ru) f (pitaxájja), драко́ний фрукт m (drakónij frukt)
Slovene: pitaja f
Spanish: pitahaya (es) f
Sundanese: buah naga
Swedish: drakfrukt (sv), pitaya, pitahaya (sv)
Tagalog: pitaya
Tamil: டிராகன் பழம் (ṭirākaṉ paḻam)
Telugu: పిటాయ (piṭāya)
Thai: แก้วมังกร (gɛ̂ɛo-mang-gɔɔn)
Tulu: ಡ್ರ್ಯಾಗನ್ ಪರ್‌ಂದ್ (ḍryāgan par‌nd)
Turkish: pitaya
Udmurt: питайя (pitajja)
Ukrainian: пітахайя f (pitaxajja), пітайя f (pitajja)
Vietnamese: thanh long (vi)
Wastek: tsatsaʼ
Yucatec Maya: woob
Zapotec:
Isthmus Zapotec: bidxí

References

“dragon fruit, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2019.
“dragon fruit”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary