A sweet, orange fruit that can be very astringent (drying in the mouth) when unripe but becomes soft and sugary when fully ripe. It grows on trees in warm climates.
From an Algonquian (Powhatan) word, often reconstructed as “putchamin” or similar forms. English speakers adapted the Native American term to “persimmon.”
Persimmons are a great lesson in timing: eat one too early and it’s mouth-dryingly harsh, wait longer and it turns candy-sweet. The word itself is a rare everyday reminder of Native American languages hiding in English fruit bowls.
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