Litchi
/ˈliː.tʃi/noun
A tropical fruit with fragrant white flesh and a rough red rind.
Did you know?English litchi comes through European transliteration from Chinese names for the fruit, and its journey shows how a single exotic word can be reshaped by trade, pronunciation, and colonial spelling habits.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Chinese
Chinese
荔枝 (lìzhī)
“The lychee fruit”
16th–17th Century
Malay/Portuguese
lichi / lici
“Transcribed name for the fruit as it moved through Asian trade networks”
17th–18th Century
French
litchi
“The fruit, spelled in a French transliteration”
18th Century
English
litchi
“The lychee fruit, adopted from French spelling”
Modern English
English
litchi
“A tropical fruit of the soapberry family”