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Glite Dictionary
sweet lemon

sweet lemon

3.4
A lemon tree and its fruit that have a mild, sweet taste and can be eaten fresh
  • noun
  • /swit ˈlɛmən/
translation icon : limón dulce
  • The orchard specializes in growing sweet lemon alongside other citrus fruits.

Examples

  • Unlike regular lemons, a sweet lemon can be eaten fresh without added sugar.

  • She prefers sweet lemon in her desserts because of its gentle flavor.

  • I bought a sweet lemon from the farmer's market.

  • The sweet lemons tasted delightful in the salad.

  • The sweet lemon has a flavor that makes it ideal for desserts and beverages.

  • I picked a sweet lemon from the tree to add a refreshing twist to my lemonade.

  • Unlike usual lemons, the sweet lemon offers a gentle sweetness perfect for snacking.

Synonyms

Meyer lemon
vssweet lemon
1 3.4

A small rounder, sweeter lemon with thin skin or the tree that grows it

focuses on mild sweetness rather than specific round shape or skin
Citrus limetta
vssweet lemon
  • Specialized
6.5

A small tree that makes sweet lime fruit often used for juice

is the common variety name rather than the formal species term
sweet lime
vssweet lemon
3.4

A fruit like a lemon but sweeter and less sour

is a named cultivated variety in this citrus family rather than a similar fruit

How Sweet

honeydew
4 2.0
orange
126 1.0
sweet lemon
3.4
lemon
318 1.0

Surface Forms

sweet lemon singular
sweet lemons plural

Morphology

sweet + lemon

The phrase is a simple adjective + noun composition where 'sweet' qualifies 'lemon' to indicate a lemon with a mildly sweet flavor; this meaning is directly and literally derivable from the constituent words. This adjective+noun pattern is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows 'sweet' and 'lemon' would reliably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The name sweet lemon may come from a simple taste image: growers found a type of lemon that tasted more sweet than sour, so they called it a 'sweet lemon'. That's why today sweet lemon refers to the tree and its fruit with a mild, not sour, taste.