currant
pronunciation
How to pronounce currant in British English:
UK [ˈkʌrənt]
How to pronounce currant in American English:
US [ˈkɜrənt]
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- Noun:
- any of several tart red or black berries used primarily for jellies and jams
- any of various deciduous shrubs of the genus Ribes bearing currants
- small dried seedless raisin grown in the Mediterranean region and California; used in cooking
Word Origin
- currant
- currant: [14] Etymologically, currants are grapes from ‘Corinth’. In the Middle Ages Corinth, in Greece, exported small dried grapes of particularly high quality, which became known in Old French as raisins de Corinthe ‘grapes of Corinth’. This phrase passed via Anglo-Norman raisins de corauntz into Middle English as raisins of coraunce. By the 16th century, coraunce had come to be regarded as a plural form, and a new singular was coined from it – at first coren, and then in the 17th century currant.In the late 16th century, too, the name was transferred to fruit such as the blackcurrant and redcurrant, under the mistaken impression that the ‘dried-grape’ currant was made from them.
- currant (n.)
- c. 1500, from raysyn of Curans (mid-14c.) "raisins of Corinth," with the -s- mistaken for a plural inflection. From Anglo-French reisin de Corauntz. The small, seedless raisins were exported from southern Greece. Then in 1570s the word was applied to an unrelated Northern European berry (genus Ribes), recently introduced in England, on its resemblance to the raisins.
Example
- 1. Rich currant and blackberry fruit , nice ripeness .
- 2. We 've got lots of currant bushes in the garden .
- 3. The beautiful and unfairly mblack currant .
- 4. Currant , current currants used to be cheap fruit , but cooks use them sparingly at current prices .
- 5. Buffalo currant produces comparable fruit more abundantly in less space and is recommended instead .