clementine

/ˈklɛmɪntaɪn/

/ˈklɛmɪntaɪn/

Other forms: clementines

A clementine is a small, orange, seedless citrus fruit. Clementines are usually easy to peel and section, and they taste very sweet.

Clementines are a deep orange-colored hybrid fruit, a combination of the mandarin and the sweet orange, similar in size to a tangerine. The history of the clementine includes what was probably an accidental invention, and an introduction to California in 1914. The inadvertent inventor of the clementine was Father Clément Rodier, who ran an Algerian orphanage, and for whom the fruit was named.

Definitions of clementine

1. noun

   a mandarin orange of a deep reddish orange color and few seeds
   type of:

   mandarin, mandarin orange

   a somewhat flat reddish-orange loose skinned citrus of China
2. noun

   a variety of mandarin orange that is grown around the Mediterranean and in South Africa
   synonyms: clementine tree

   type of:

   Citrus reticulata, mandarin, mandarin orange, mandarin orange tree

   shrub or small tree having flattened globose fruit with very sweet aromatic pulp and thin yellow-orange to flame-orange rind that is loose and easily removed; native to southeastern Asia