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currant

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Red Lake Currants
Red Lake Currant plants. Hardy, Red Lake Currants.
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cur⋅rant

  [kur-uhnt, kuhr-]
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–noun
1. a small seedless raisin, produced chiefly in California and in the Levant, and used in cookery and confectionery.
2. the small, edible, acid, round fruit or berry of certain wild or cultivated shrubs of the genus Ribes.
3. the shrub itself.
4. any of various similar fruits or shrubs.
Origin:
1300–50; shortened from ME raysons of Coraunte raisins of Corinth, the port in Greece from which they orig. came
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Current Catalog
Our Famous After-Christmas Sale is Here! Stock up & Save Big.
www.CurrentCatalog.com
Red Lake Currants
Red Lake Currant plants. Hardy, Red Lake Currants.
www.millernurseries.com
cur·rant   (kûr'ənt, kŭr'-)   
n.  

  1. Any of various deciduous, spineless shrubs of the genus Ribes, native chiefly to the Northern Hemisphere and having flowers in racemes and edible, variously colored berries.

  2. The fruits of any of these plants, used for jams, jellies, desserts, or beverages.

  3. A small seedless raisin of the Mediterranean region, used chiefly in baking.

  4. Any of several other plants or their fruit.


[From Middle English (raysons of) coraunte, (raisins of) Corinth, currants, from Anglo-Norman (raisins de) Corauntz, from Latin Corinthus, Corinth, from Greek Korinthos.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

currant 
c.1502, from raysyn of Curans (1334) "raisins of Corinth," with the -s- mistaken for a pl. inflection. From Anglo-Fr. reisin de Corauntz. The small, seedless raisins were exported from southern Greece. Then in 1578 the word was applied to an unrelated N. European berry (genus Ribes), recently introduced in England, on its resemblance to the raisins.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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