loquat

American  

[loh-kwot, -kwat] / ˈloʊ kwɒt, -kwæt /

noun

1. a small evergreen tree, Eriobotrya japonica, native to China and Japan, cultivated as an ornamental and for its yellow, plumlike fruit.

2. the fruit itself.

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loquat British  

/ -kwət, ˈləʊkwɒt /

noun

1. an ornamental evergreen rosaceous tree, Eriobotrya japonica, of China and Japan, having reddish woolly branches, white flowers, and small yellow edible plumlike fruits

2. the fruit of this tree

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Etymology

Origin of loquat

1810–20; < dialectal Chinese (Guangdong) lōkwat, akin to Chinese lújú

Example Sentences

In the rear open kitchen, Manon Fleury turned humble winter produce into memorable dishes: Fried sweet-potato threads mimicked a mini funnel cake, dabbed with loquat jam.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026

“I don’t need a poll to tell me about the community needs,” she said, looking at her family’s loquat tree.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2023

He visits rare fruit growers at their homes, and has a rare-fruit garden of his own with mango, banana, loquat, peach and citron trees.

From New York Times • Feb. 28, 2022

Besides finding a stray recipe for chutney or jelly, when I Googled "best loquat recipes," a tumbleweed essentially blew across my computer screen.

From Salon • Feb. 24, 2021

Later we saw a new loquat tree most similar to ours in a Chinese neighbor’s yard.

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston