persimmon

noun

Etymology: From Powhatan pichamins, pushemins, pasimenan (“dried fruit”), from the same Proto-Algonquian root *-imin (“fruit, berry”) as Unami ximin.

1. The orange fruit of any of various species of trees in the genus Diospyros, especially Diospyros kaki (the kaki or Japanese persimmon) or Diospyros virginiana (the wild American persimmon), which is sweet when ripe and astringent when immature.

   “I warned them not to eat the persimmons until they were soft to the touch.”

2. The tree this fruit grows on, generally one of two species of ebony: Diospyros kaki (Asian) or Diospyros virginiana (North American).