• n. 杏，杏子；[园艺] 杏树；杏黄色
• adj. 杏黄色的

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 of praecox, from which English gets precocious). Praecocum was borrowed by a succession of languages, making its way via Byzantine Greek beríkokkon and Arabic al birqūq ‘the apricot’ to Spanish albaricoque and Portuguese albricoque.

This was the source of the English word, but its earliest form, abrecock, shows that it had already acquired the initial abrof French abricot, and the final -t followed almost immediately. Spellings with p instead of b are also found in the 16th century.
=> precocious

apricot (n.)

1550s, abrecock, from Catalan abercoc, related to Portuguese albricoque, from Arabic al-birquq, through Byzantine Greek berikokkia from Latin (malum) praecoquum "early-ripening (fruit)" (see precocious). Form assimilated to French abricot.

Latin praecoquis early-ripe, can probably be attributed to the fact that the fruit was considered a variety of peach that ripened sooner than other peaches .... [Barnhart]

The older Latin name for it was prunum Armeniacum or malum Armeniacum, in reference to supposed origin in Armenia. As a color name, first attested 1906.

1. The illustration shows a cluster of five roses coloured apricot orange.

插图上是一簇杏橙色的玫瑰，一共5朵。

来自柯林斯例句

2. The bridesmaids wore apricot and white organza.

伴娘身着杏黄色和白色相间的透明硬纱礼服。

来自柯林斯例句

3. The heavy curtains were a warm apricot.

这些厚重的窗帘是温暖的杏黄色。

来自柯林斯例句

4. With so much spring in the garden , how can it be contained ? A spray of red apricot blossom has already reached over the wall.

满园春色关不住, 一枝红杏出墙来.

来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5. Economic crops include flax, canola, yellow, apricot, apple and so on.

经济作物有胡麻 、 油菜 、 黄花 、 杏 、 苹果等.

来自互联网