lychee
noun
ly·chee
| \ ˈlē-(ˌ)chē
, ˈlī-
\
, ˈlī-
\
Definition of lychee
1
or lychee nut
or litchi nut
or less commonly lichee nut
: the small, oval to roundish fruit of a Chinese tree (Litchi chinensis) of the soapberry family having a rough or warty, yellow, pink, or reddish leathery rind and sweet to slightly acidic usually whitish edible flesh that surrounds a single large seed
Note: The lychee, grown commercially in tropical and subtropical regions, is a type of fruit called a drupe, and its edible flesh is the fruit's aril.
2
: a slow-growing tree that bears lychees and has glossy, leathery leaves and terminal clusters of tiny, apetalous, greenish-white to yellow flowers
Examples of lychee in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
What to drink Sip Thai iced tea or Thai iced coffee; smoothies in fun flavors (avocado, taro, lychee); and soda. — Kara Baskin, BostonGlobe.com, "Thai Noodle Cafe is a welcome pit stop in a culinarily rich stretch of Belmont," 13 June 2019 Drinks are loosely inspired by Japan and other Asian flavors, like a yuzu margarita and a prosecco pear with Asian pear and lychee. — Polly Campbell, Cincinnati.com, "Kaze gets Thunderdomed," 24 July 2019 Fairchild’s Curator of Tropical Fruit, Dr. Noris Ledesma, indicates the fruit is juicy, sweet, with a flavor resembling passion fruit and lychee. — Kenneth Setzer, sun-sentinel.com, "What is the mysterious blue mango?," 25 June 2019 Other media debate the role of lychees in the tragedy and—with honourable exceptions—try to similarly lay siege to the hospital in question. — Samar Halarnkar, Quartz India, "India’s battling one crisis after another, but parliament and media are obsessed with the irrelevant," 24 June 2019 Kermit-green matcha, periwinkle purple ube, cotton-candy pink lychee—any of which I’d be tempted to use to paint a wall of my living room. — Sarah Jampel, Bon Appétit, "The Hype Ice Cream I’m Willing to Wait in Long, Near-Rioting Lines For," 18 June 2019 The drinks include the Odette, three olives, lychee, coconut and lavender and the Red Hot Mule, Brugal Especial rum, strawberry, chili, lime and ginger beer. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Best happy hours in Miami, Lauderdale, Boca, Delray, West Palm Beach and other South Florida cities.," 12 Mar. 2019 On the other hand, the fried rice isn’t terrible, the pickled vegetables aren’t bad, and the lychee drink is pretty good. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "YouTube’s Army Ration Taste-Tester Has Reviewed Rations Across Three Centuries," 10 Apr. 2019 And all include enriching butters such as mango seed butter, cocoa seed butter, avocado oil, jojoba oil, and, of course, Oribe’s signature complex that goes into every product: watermelon, lychee, and edelweiss flower. — Akili King, Vogue, "Meet the Natural Hair Guru Who Helped Oribe Launch Products For Textured Tresses," 4 Apr. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'lychee.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for lychee
lychee
noun
English Language Learners Definition of lychee
: the fruit of an Asian tree that has a hard outer covering and a seed surrounded by sweet flesh
also
: the tree that produces this fruit
See the full definition for lychee in the English Language Learners Dictionary