sugar apple
- noun
- /ˈʃʊɡər ˈæpəl/
- Australian
:
chirimoya
- The white, custard-like flesh of the sugar apple is a favorite in India.
Examples
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The white, custard-like flesh of the sugar apple is a favorite in India.
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I miss the Taiwanese sugar apples.
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You always talk about Taiwanese sugar apples, small steamer buns, oyster omelet.
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For the fruits—the papaya, sugar apple, guava, star fruit, and even the coconut would be great for breakfast.
Blog text (26) -
Cherimoya, soursop, and sugar apple—sweet dessert fruits from tropical America—are enjoyed fresh or made into sherbet.
Academic text (1995) -
For breakfast, I enjoyed fresh sugar apples alongside papaya and guava.
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Cherimoya, soursop, and sugar apple—sweet dessert fruits from tropical America—are often used in desserts.
Synonyms
1
9.8
A tropical fruit also called sugar apple that has sweet, soft flesh and shiny black seeds
A tropical tree that makes sweet fruit with a thick scaly skin
Sweet fruit with thick scaly skin and creamy flesh with black seeds
A tropical tree that makes sweet, soft fruit with thick, scaly skin
How Sweet
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly interpretable from 'sugar' (sweet) + 'apple' (a fruit), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will reasonably infer it denotes a sweet fruit. Although it names a specific tropical species rather than a literal apple with sugar, the noun-noun compounding is compositional and follows common English patterns, making the basic meaning predictable.
Etymology
Sugar apple comes from the fruit's taste and look: people found its soft, very sweet flesh like sugar and its round, bumpy shape like an apple, so they called it sugar apple. That's why the name means a sweet tropical fruit we eat today.