Fruits in Spanish

Fruits (las frutas), like all nouns in Spanish, have gender (masculine or feminine). Fruits ending in a are feminine, while those ending in o are masculine. They also have number (singular or plural), with the plural form taking a final s or es:

Voy a comer un durazno.
I’ll eat a peach. (masculine singular)

Las bananas están maduras.
The bananas are ripe. (feminine plural)

The most common fruits in Spanish are:

manzana apple	naranja orange	plátano, banana banana
fresa, frutilla strawberry	uva grapes	durazno, melocotón peach
limón lemon	pera pear	ciruela plum
sandía watermelon	melón melon	piña, ananá pineapple
mandarina tangerine, mandarin	kiwi kiwifruit	pomelo, toronja grapefruit
mango mango	higo fig	lima lime
albaricoque, damasco apricot	cereza cherry	frambuesa raspberry
arándano blueberry	mora, zarzamora blackberry	arándano rojo cranberry
elderberry sauco	coco coconut	granada pomegranate
aguacate, palta avocado	membrillo quince	quinoto kumquat
cacahuete, maní peanut	almendra almond	pistacho pistachio
avellana hazelnut	castaña chestnut	anacardo, castaña de cajú cashew

The names of most fruits in Spanish are shared by all Spanish-speaking countries. However, a large number of them have regional names that will only be understood in certain areas. Piña or ananá, for example, is the name for “pineapple” depending on the country or region.

Fruit-related vocabulary and useful phrases

Useful fruit-related words to talk about fruits include:

dulce sweet	agrio sour	maduro ripe
verde unripe	fresco fresh	podrido rotten
sabroso tasty	jugoso juicy	amargo bitter
jugo, zumo jugo	semilla seed	cáscara peel, skin
carozo, hueso pit, stone	cítrico citrus fruit	bayas, frutos rojos berries
fruta de hueso o carozo stone fruit	frutería fruit market	pelar peel

Some every-day phrases and questions to talk about fruit include:

¿Cuál es tu fruta favorita?

What’s your favorite fruit?

Mi fruta favorita es la frambuesa.
My favorite fruit are raspberries.

Me gusta la fruta.
I like fruit.

Estas bananas están verdes.
These bananas are unripe.

¿Las ciruelas están maduras?
Are the plums ripe?

¿Me da un racimo de uvas, por favor?
Can I have a bunch of grapes, please?

¿Cuánto cuesta el kilo de ciruelas?
How much is a kilo of plums?

Tropical and exotic fruits

A large number of tropical fruits (frutas tropicales) come from Spanish-speaking countries near or at the tropics. Foreign fruit names are translated into Spanish, with few retaining their original foreign name:

papaya papaya	fruta del dragón, pitaya dragon fruit	guayaba guava
carambola star fruit	lichi lychee	longuián, ojo de dragón longan
dátil date	melón chino honeydew	pera asiática Asian pear
caqui persimmon	tamarindo tamarind	yaca jackfruit
níspero loquat	plantain plátano	chirimoya custard apple
kiwano horned or kiwano melon	guanábana soursop	cacao cacao fruit
mamey mamey, mammee apple	durián durian	mangostán mangosteen
zapote negro black sapote	frutipan breadfruit	pomarrosa wax jambu
caviar cítrico, lima dedo finger lime	mano de buda Buddha’s hand	salak, fruto de la serpiente salak, snake fruit
gac gac fruit	fruto de hala hala fruit	yangmei yangmei berry, yumberry

Where do fruits come from?

Fruit trees in Spanish derive their name from the name of fruits. Most fruit trees take the masculine form.

limonero lemon tree	naranjo orange tree	cerezo cherry tree
duraznero, melocotonero peach tree	ciruelo plum tree	peral pear tree
damasco, albaricoquero apricot tree	higuera fig tree	banano banana tree
mandarino tangerine tree	almendro almond tree	nogal nut tree
olivo olive tree	avellano hazelnut tree	castaño chestnut tree

It is also possible to use the words árbol de… for most fruit trees rather than the specific name:
árbol de quinotos or quinoto (kumquat tree)

For fruit-bearing plants, shrubs and bushes, the word planta de… is used:
planta de rosa mosqueta (rose hip bush)
planta de grosella (currant bush).

The word vid or parra is used for grapes, meaning “grapevine”.

Fruit foods

There is a large variety of foods, dishes and drinks made with fruits in Spanish, some of which include:

How to buy fruit in Spanish

To buy fruits in the Spanish-speaking world, the unit of measurement is the kilo and the gram, with fruit juices and other beverages measured in liters, cubic centimeters and milliliters. The imperial system is not used.

Fruits may also be bought per unit:

Voy a llevar tres duraznos.
I’ll take three peaches.

Below is a conversion table of common measurement units:

Imperial unit	Metric unit	How it is said in Spanish
1 pound	0.45 kilos / 454 grams (roughly half a kilo)	medio kilo
33.8 FL. OZ.	1 liter	un litro

Vegetables in Spanish

Common vegetables in Spanish are:

zanahoria
carrot

cebolla
onion

tomate
tomato

patata, papa
potato

zapallo
pumpkin

ajo
garlic

lechuga
lettuce

pepino
cucumber

berenjena
eggplant

morrón
pepper

• Explore more: Common Spanish words and phrases

Practice: Fruits in Spanish