breadfruit

noun

bread·​fruit ˈbred-ˌfrüt 

plural breadfruits also breadfruit

: a round starchy usually seedless fruit that resembles bread in color and texture when baked

also : a tall tropical evergreen tree (Artocarpus altilis) of the mulberry family that bears this fruit see also mexican breadfruit

Illustration of breadfruit

Examples of breadfruit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The all-day menu has a focus on dishes that use ingredients common in the islands and staples of the Polynesian diet, like breadfruit tostones and spam. —Carly Caramanna, Parents, 17 Dec. 2024

The plantations originally grew only coffee, but farmers—many of them now Native Hawaiians—have recently started to restore native biodiversity, growing coffee among lush undergrowth in the shade of massive native fruit trees, including ‘Ulu or breadfruit. —Bysandeep Ravindran, science.org, 24 Oct. 2024

During a period known as the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, for instance, around ninety million years ago, breadfruit trees grew on Greenland, and a rain forest thrived on Antarctica. —Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024

So Mike designed a solar dehydrator to dry breadfruit, which can then be ground into flour. —Richard Schiffman, WIRED, 11 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1697, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing breadfruit

• Mexican breadfruit

Kids Definition

breadfruit

noun

bread·​fruit -ˌfrüt 

: a round usually seedless fruit that resembles bread in color and texture when baked

also : a tall tropical tree that is related to the mulberries and bears this fruit