# citrus

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈsɪtɹəs/ · frequency rank #13,301

## Definitions
1. Any of several shrubs or trees of the genus Citrus in the family Rutaceae.
2. The fruit of such plants, generally spherical, oblate, or prolate, consisting of an outer glandular skin (called zest), an inner white skin (called pith or albedo), and generally between 8 and 16 sectors filled with pulp consisting of cells with one end attached to the inner skin. Citrus fruits include orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, and citron.

## Etymology
From Latin citrus (“a citron tree, thuja”), probably via Etruscan from Ancient Greek κέδρος (kédros); compare Middle English citurtre, cytyr tre. Thus a possible doublet of cedar.

## Easily confused with
- **Cyrus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/citrus-vs-cyrus)
- **Cyprus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/citrus-vs-cyprus)
- **cites** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cites-vs-citrus)
- **cities** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cities-vs-citrus)
- **circus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/circus-vs-citrus)
- **chorus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chorus-vs-citrus)
- **citric** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/citric-vs-citrus)
- **cirrus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cirrus-vs-citrus)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ccitrus`, `cirtus`, `citrrus`, `citrsu`, `citruss`, `cittrus`, `citurs`, `ctirus`, `ictrus`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/citrus