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quince (kwĭns)
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n.
1. A shrub or small tree (Cydonia oblonga) in the rose family, native to western Asia, having white or pink flowers and hard yellow pear-shaped fruit.
2. The aromatic, many-seeded fruit of this plant, usually used for jelly or in cooked dishes.
[Middle English quynce, pl. of quyn, quince, from Old French cooin, from Latin cotōneum (mālum), quince (fruit), probably variant of cydōnium, from Greek dialectal kudōnion (mālon), alteration (influenced by Kudōniā, Cydonia, an ancient city of northwest Crete) of kodumālon.]
(click for a larger image)
quince
Cydonia oblonga
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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