Definitions

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

  • noun A widely cultivated variety of mandarin orange having deep red-orange fruit with easily separated segments.
  • noun A strong reddish orange to strong or vivid orange.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Relating to Tangiers, an important seaport of Morocco, on the Strait of Gibraltar.
  • noun An inhabitant of Tangiers.
  • noun [lowercase] A Tangerine orange. See orange. Also spelled tangierine.

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

  • noun (Bot.) A kind of orange, much like the mandarin, but of deeper color and higher flavor. It is said to have been produced in America from the mandarin.

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

  • noun Any of several varieties of mandarin oranges.
  • noun A deep yellowish-orange colour, like that of a tangerine fruit.
  • noun A tree that produces tangerines.
  • adjective Of a deep yellowish-orange colour.

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

  • adjective of a strong reddish orange color
  • noun a variety of mandarin orange
  • noun a reddish to vivid orange color
  • noun any of various deep orange mandarins grown in the United States and southern Africa

Etymologies

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

[Short for tangerine orange, after Tanger, (Tangier), Morocco (the principal port from which the fruit was once shipped).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French Tanger, after Tangier, Morocco.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word tangerine.

Examples

  • The specific color Pantone has chosen is called "tangerine tango"—a brilliant shade of reddish orange that evokes a fireball as much as fruit.

    Orange Blossoms Especially for 2012 Fashion Christina Binkley 2011

  • With beef mignon, seared salmon, grilled tuna, and duck breast in tangerine sauce all on the menu, you won't lack for mouthwatering choices.

    The Greatest Fishing Lodges in the World 2007

  • While mandarins and tangerines refer to the same citrus species they are both c. reticulata, the name tangerine has been used to describe a certain type of mandarin, those with a darker skin.

    Archive 2008-08-01 Haalo 2008

  • While mandarins and tangerines refer to the same citrus species they are both c. reticulata, the name tangerine has been used to describe a certain type of mandarin, those with a darker skin.

    Honey Murcott Mandarin Sorbet Haalo 2008

  • He feels sure his arthritis would handle the assembly, and he's so glad they mentioned that he probably needs that ottoman in tangerine (the new beige?).

    Ikea. 2003

  • He feels sure his arthritis would handle the assembly, and he's so glad they mentioned that he probably needs that ottoman in tangerine (the new beige?).

    Archive 2003-12-01 2003

  • Mrs. Thacher adapted this cookie recipe to highlight the Pixie tangerine, which is among the last to ripen every season; you can often find them as late as June.

    One Big Table Molly O’Neill 2010

  • The tangerine is a mandarin variant from the city of Tangiers.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

  • The tangerine is a mandarin variant from the city of Tangiers.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

  • The tangerine is a mandarin variant from the city of Tangiers.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Hey remember that month when I only ate boxes of tangerines

    So cheap and juicy, tangerines

    Regina Spektor, That Time

    June 23, 2009

  • i love that song.

    September 2, 2009

  • Also a jazz standard...

    September 2, 2009

  • Today, 12/20/2010, a friend gave me a dozen tangerines, picked fresh from a tree not far away, which I appreciated more than he knew. The gifting of citrus during the holidays goes back in my family to English/Scandinavian pioneers of the western US, when such foodstuffs were precious and rare in the frontier, and truly appreciated and treasured.

    December 21, 2010