Etymology

pampelmoes

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Today it means: Synonym of pomelo, as both a large fruit of Southeast Asia and as a catchall term for other related fruit such as the grapefruit. Full definition →

French pamplemousse ← Dutch pompelmoes ← Portuguese limões
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The story

  1. Tamil · derived fromபம்ப ளிமாசு“big citrus”
  2. Afrikaans · borrowed frompompelmoes
  3. Portuguese · derived fromlimões“lemons”
  4. French · derived frompompon“pumpkin; melon”
  5. Dutch · borrowed frompompelmoes
  6. French · borrowed frompamplemousse
  7. English todaypampelmoes

From French pamplemousse and Dutch pompelmoes, probably from pompel (“thick”) or pompoen (“pumpkin”), from French pompon (“pumpkin; melon”), and from Portuguese limões (“lemons”). Continuing use in South Africa supported by Afrikaans pompelmoes and pampelmoes. Possibly originally transcribing Tamil பம்ப ளிமாசு (pampa ḷimācu, “big citrus”).

Words from the same roots

Frenchpompon all →

pompompompon

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.