abricot (French)

Where does "abricot" come from?

The French word 'abricot' traces its roots back to the Latin term 'praecox', meaning 'early-ripening,' which was used to describe apricots as early-ripening peaches. The word traveled through Greek and Arabic before arriving in Catalan and finally Middle French, eventually becoming a descriptor for the fruit's distinct color. It is a linguistic relative of the word 'précoce,' both of which share the same Latin ancestry.

Full etymology tree

• abricot (French), 'apricot (color)'
  • inherited abricot (Middle French)
    • borrowed albercoc (Catalan), 'apricot'
      • borrowed al-barqūq (Arabic)
        • borrowed barqūqā (Classical Syriac)
          • borrowed berikokkíā (berikokkía) (Byzantine Greek)
            • compound beríkokkon (beríkokkon) (Byzantine Greek)
              • inherited πραικόκιον (praikókion) (Ancient Greek), 'apricot'
                • borrowed praecoquum (Latin), 'inflection of praecoquus:'
                  • derived praecoquus (Latin), 'alternative form of praecox'
                    • affix prae- (Latin), 'before; in front'
                      • inherited *prai- (Proto-Italic), 'pre-, before'
                        • inherited *preh₂- (Proto-Indo-European), 'before, in front'
                    • affix coquere (Latin), 'second-person singular future passive indicative of coquō'
                      • inherited *pekʷ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to cook'
            • compound -ía (Byzantine Greek)

Ancestors

• *preh₂- (Proto-Indo-European)
• *pekʷ- (Proto-Indo-European)
• abrecoc (Catalan)
• برقوق (Arabic)
• πραικόκιον (Ancient Greek)

Cognates and doublets

• précoce (French)

Updated May 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris