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Glite Dictionary
kai apple

kai apple

9.9
A South African fruit with a sweet apricot-like smell and taste used for jams and pickles
  • noun
  • South African
translation icon : manzana kai
  • She bought fresh kai apples at the market to make preserves.

Examples

  • The homemade jam was made from kai apple harvested in the local orchard.

  • The tangy flavor of kai apple pairs well with spicy dishes.

  • The kai apple has a unique flavor.

  • I bought some kai apples at the market.

  • She bought fresh kai apples at the market to make preserves.

  • The tangy flavor of kai apple pairs well with spicy dishes.

  • The homemade jam was made from kai apple harvested in the local orchard.

Synonyms

Dovyalis caffra
vskai apple
  • Specialized
9.9

A spiny shrub from South Africa that produces round yellow edible fruits

focuses on the fruit's apricot scent and use for pickles and preserves
kei apple
vskai apple
  • South African
9.9

A spiny shrub with round yellow fruits you can eat

focuses on the fruit's apricot aroma and its use in preserves

Surface Forms

kai apple singular
kai apples plural

Morphology

kai + apple

This is a lexicalized name for a specific fruit: 'kai' functions as a local/botanical modifier or loanword rather than a productive English morpheme whose meaning a learner could compose with 'apple'. Knowing 'apple' only gives the category (a fruit), but the specific referent and properties (South African fruit with apricot-like scent) are arbitrary and not derivable from the constituents, so the expression is opaque to learners.

Etymology

Kai apple may come from South Africa, where people called the small fruit kai and added apple to show it was a fruit. Because families often kept it in jars as 'preserves' or 'pickles', the name helps you remember a tart fruit that smells and tastes like apricot.