Meanings
- uncountableA person who has been lynched by hanging; such people collectively.
Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
1937 January, Abel Meeropol, “Bitter Fruit”, in The New York Teacher1 more example
We speak for the brothers behind bars whose words, at the very least, must be liberated We speak for the strange fruit hung from trees We speak for the brothers who drowned in alcohol, and whose spirits were pierced by needles
1986, Joseph Beam, “Introduction”, in In The Life
Origin
From a poem by Abel Meeropol later recorded by Billie Holiday (1939), see quotations.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
strange fruit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/strange%20fruit
“strange fruit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/strange%20fruit. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “strange fruit,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/strange%20fruit.
Source: strange fruit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.