Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A tropical western African evergreen tree (Blighia sapida) having leathery red-and-yellow fruits. It is naturalized and cultivated in the tropics and in Florida.
  • noun The edible, fleshy, ripe aril of this tree, especially popular as a food in Jamaica. The seeds and unripe arils are poisonous.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The Cupania (Blighia) sapida, natural order Sapindaceæ, a native of Guinea, whence it was carried by Captain Bligh to Jamaica in 1793, and thence disseminated over the West Indies and South America.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a tree (Blighia sapida) widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions for its fragrant flowers and colorful fruits; introduced in Jamaica by Captain Bligh of the HMS Bounty.
  • noun red pear-shaped tropical fruit with poisonous seeds; the flesh is poisonous when unripe or overripe.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A tropical evergreen tree, Blighia sapida, related to the lychee and longan.
  • noun The fruit of the ackee, of which only the arils are edible, the remainder being poisonous.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun red pear-shaped tropical fruit with poisonous seeds; flesh is poisonous when unripe or overripe
  • noun widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions for its fragrant flowers and colorful fruits; introduced in Jamaica by William Bligh

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Possibly Kru akee or Akan (Twi) aŋkyẽ, wild cashew.]

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Examples

  • The gallery forests are dominated by Cynometra vogelii; the patches of dense dry forest by Isoberlinia doka, Anogeissus leiocarpus, Cola cordifolia, Antiaris africana, which is nationally threatened, Chlorophora excelsa (VU), and the edible akee Blighia unijugata.

    Comoé National Park, Côte d'Ivoire 2009

  • Here's what I can remember: akee & saltfish, breadfruit, yams cooked over an open fire, boiled bananas & dumplings, porridge, jerk chicken, pork & sausage, festivals & my all-time favorite "patties" with coco bread.

    mom’s visit to ja 2008

  • Tenoo oasht emmok o piekhristos nem pekyot en aghathos nem pi epnevma ethowab je akee ak soati emmon nai nan

    Archive 2008-06-01 bls 2008

  • Tenoo oasht emmok o piekhristos nem pekyot en aghathos nem pi epnevma ethowab je akee ak soati emmon nai nan

    A Coptic Chant Web Resource bls 2008

  • Star fruit, dragon fruit, something else like a cross between an akee and a lychee:

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010

  • Star fruit, dragon fruit, something else like a cross between an akee and a lychee:

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010

  • I also had the privilidge of seeing Linstead Market twice, and also hearing the song performed in the correct time in which it was written, and experiencing the dissapointment of a woman (hawker) who did not sell any akee all day (Saturday) to buy foor for a children for the next week.

    Barbados Underground 2009

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