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Glite Dictionary
punnet

punnet

8.4
A small shallow container for selling berries like strawberries
  • noun
  • /ˈpʌnɪt/
  • UK
translation icon : cesta
  • At the farmer's market, I bought a punnet of fresh strawberries for dessert.

Examples

  • The berry vendor sells punnets filled with raspberries that are perfect for making jam.

  • She filled her punnet with ripe blueberries before heading to the checkout.

  • I've been buying quite a few punnets at the green market, and picking even more at the PYO farms.

    Blog text (17)

  • The mind boggles when you think about how much land a punnet of strawberries requires and the chemicals that farmers are fumigating the ground with so they can grow strawberries continually.

    Blog text (24)

Synonyms

basket
vspunnet
97 1.0

An amount that fills a basket used to count fruit

is a small fruit container rather than a measure of amount
frail
vspunnet
  • Archaic
9.9

A basket made of plant stems used to hold dried fruit like raisins

is a small light container for fresh fruit and used as a selling measure

How Big

crate
189 1.7
basket
288 1.0
tray
311 1.0
punnet
  • UK
8.4

Surface Forms

punnet singular
punnets plural

Etymology

Punnet comes from an old dialect word pun meaning 'small basket' plus the little ending -et, so it originally meant a 'little basket'. So a punnet is literally a small basket, which is why we use the word for the little containers of strawberries or raspberries sold at markets.