Definition of "persimmon" [per•sim•mon]

• Any of various chiefly tropical trees of the genus Diospyros, having hard wood and orange-red fruit that is edible only when completely ripe. (noun)
• The fruit of any of these trees. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The name persimmon supposedly comes from the Algonquin name for 'dry fruit', and the tree the persimmon grows from is part of the ebony family."
• ""Thar's some niggers that look so much like possums when they git up in persimmon branches that it takes a sharp eye to tell the difference," observed Tim Mallory."
• "Kaki, it turns out, is the Latin word and Japanese name for the fruit that is also called a persimmon or Sharon fruit thank you internet."