once-fruiting
|once-fruit-ing|
/wʌnsˈfruːtɪŋ/
bearing fruit only one time
Etymology
'once-fruiting' originates from Modern English, a compound of 'once' + 'fruiting', where 'once' meant 'one time' and 'fruit' (verb) meant 'to bear fruit'.
'once' comes from Old English 'anes' meaning 'one'; 'fruit' ultimately comes from Latin 'fructus' (via Old French and Middle English), so the compound reflects a recent English formation combining these elements.
Initially it simply signified 'bearing fruit one time'; over time it has been specialized in botanical and horticultural contexts to mean either seasonal single-time fruiting or lifetime single-time fruiting (monocarpic).
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
(horticulture) Producing fruit only once in a growing season or on previous-year wood (not repeatedly during the same season).
This raspberry variety is once-fruiting, producing fruit on last year's canes in early summer.
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Adjective 2
(botanical life-history) Fruiting only once in its lifetime (monocarpic/semelparous), then dying after reproduction.
Many bamboo species are once-fruiting, flowering and fruiting only once before they die.
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Last updated: 2025/09/10 17:10