firstfruit

English

Alternative forms

• first fruit, first-fruit

Etymology

From Middle English firste fruyt, equivalent to first +‎ fruit.

Noun

firstfruit (plural firstfruits)

1. An offering of the first of the harvest; firstfruits.
2. The first growth, allegory for the first people to receive the message.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 11:16:

     For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

3. Ceremony in Southern Africa, notably among the Zulu and Swazi peoples, in which the paramount chief is the first to eat from the new harvest.

Translations

offering of the first of a harvest

Finnish: uutiset (fi) pl Galician: primicias f pl Indonesian: sulung (id) Maltese: bkir Maori: tūāpora Polish: pierwocina (pl) f Portuguese: primícia (pt) f, primícias f pl Romanian: pârgă (ro) n Spanish: primicia (es) f, primicias (es) f pl

first growth

Finnish: ensisato, uutinen (fi)

See also

• forefruit