apricot

来自拉丁短语malum precoquum, 早熟的水果。-cot, cook的过去分词，表示熟。

该词的字面意思是：早熟的水果。

词根词缀：a- "the" (阿拉伯语定冠词“al”的变体，相当于英语中的定冠词“the”) + pri- "before" (前缀“pre-”的元音变体) + cot- "ripe" (词根“coc-”的变体)。所以，其字面意思就是：the early-ripening (fruit)，即：早熟的水果。

其名称源于最初“杏”被认为是另外一种桃子，只是它比其它种类的桃子成熟得早。于是就有了这个怪异的名称，而“杏”这种水果本身最初是由中国传到西方的。

apricot

apricot: [16] The word apricot reached English by a peculiarly circuitous route from Latin. The original term used by the Romans for the apricot, a fruit which came ultimately from China, was prūnum Arminiacum or mālum Arminiacum ‘Armenian plum or apple’ (Armenia was an early source of choice apricots). But a new term gradually replaced these: mālum praecocum ‘early-ripening apple’ (praecocus was a variant