entry
gooseberry
/ˈɡuːzbəri/A thorny shrub bearing edible berries
From Germanic; ultimately Indo-European, but the supplied parsed chain does not preserve the reconstructed stages goose (A waterfowl) + O.English berry (A small pulpy fruit).
from German Krausebeere or Kräuselbeere , related to Middle Dutch croesel "gooseberry," and to German kraus "crispy,...
Word Ancestry
from German Krausebeere or Kräuselbeere , related to Middle Dutch croesel "gooseberry," and to German kraus "crispy,...
The name looks as if someone watched a goose pecking around a berry bush and took notes, but nobody knows whether that actually happened. One serious theory starts instead with German Krausebeere or Kräuselbeere, a “curly berry,” whose unfamiliar first part may have been remodeled into goose; another says animal names for plants are so wildly unpredictable that a literal goose need not be ruled out. The English form appears in the 1530s, while by 1719 gooseberry could also mean a fool—perhaps borrowing goose’s older reputation for silliness, or riffing on the dessert called gooseberry fool. Later, especially in British usage, a gooseberry became the unwanted third person tagging along with a romantic couple, a social role neatly captured by the image of one berry left on the bush. So remember the word as a tiny etymological mystery: behind the apparently obvious goose may lurk a German “curly” berry, while the berry itself is one of English’s oldest native fruit names.
The Story
The name looks as if someone watched a goose pecking around a berry bush and took notes, but nobody knows whether that actually happened. One serious theory starts instead with German Krausebeere or Kräuselbeere, a “curly berry,” whose unfamiliar first part may have been remodeled into goose; another says animal names for plants are so wildly unpredictable that a literal goose need not be ruled out. The English form appears in the 1530s, while by 1719 gooseberry could also mean a fool—perhaps borrowing goose’s older reputation for silliness, or riffing on the dessert called gooseberry fool. Later, especially in British usage, a gooseberry became the unwanted third person tagging along with a romantic couple, a social role neatly captured by the image of one berry left on the bush. So remember the word as a tiny etymological mystery: behind the apparently obvious goose may lurk a German “curly” berry, while the berry itself is one of English’s oldest native fruit names.
Modern Usage
A person who tags along with a romantic couple or is the odd one out
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries describe the odd-person-out and third-wheel senses
Kin & Kindred
From 'goose'·A waterfowl; figuratively, a foolish person
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'berry'·A small pulpy fruit
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia