medlar

American  

[med-ler] / ˈmɛd lər /

noun

1. a small tree, Mespilus germanica, of the rose family, the fruit of which resembles a crab apple and is not edible until the early stages of decay.

2. any of certain related trees.

3. the fruit of any of these trees.

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medlar British  

/ ˈmɛdlə /

noun

1. a small Eurasian rosaceous tree, Mespilus germanica

2. the fruit of this tree, which resembles the crab apple and is not edible until it has begun to decay

3. any of several other rosaceous trees or their fruits

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Etymology

Origin of medlar

1325–75; Middle English medler < Anglo-French, equivalent to medle ( Old French mesle the fruit < Latin mespilum < Greek méspilon ) + -er -er ²

Example Sentences

Most people have never heard of the medlar tree.

From Seattle Times • May 24, 2024

We hand the results to friends and neighbors and spread the word of the glorious, troublesome medlar.

From Seattle Times • May 24, 2024

“And medlar fruit is definitely something I’m tempted to plant.”

From New York Times • Aug. 18, 2017

Both Chaucer and Shakespeare wrote of the medlar fruit, which comes, appropriately enough, from the medlar tree.

From Slate • Mar. 8, 2016

Now La Stevenyne was sixty years old at least, and her face was like the fruit of the medlar, but all yellow with bile, and she had a large port-wine stain on her left cheek.

From The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders and elsewhere by Coster, Charles de