different between vaccinium vs huckleberry

English

Etymology

From the genus name.

Noun

vaccinium (plural vacciniums)

1. (botany) Any of the genus Vaccinium of ericaceous shrubs including the various kinds of blueberries and the true cranberries.

Latin

Etymology

From vacc?nus (“relating to cows”), or a corruption of Ancient Greek ???????? (huákinthos, “dark red, purple”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /u?ak?ki?.ni.um/, [u?äk?ki?ni???]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /vat?t??i.ni.um/, [v?t?t??i?nium]

Noun

vacc?nium n (genitive vacc?ni? or vacc?n?); second declension

1. the bilberry, blueberry, whortleberry

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• ? Translingual: Vaccinium
  • ? English: vaccinium

References

• vaccinium in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vaccinium in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vaccinium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

English

Etymology

Probably an alteration of Middle English hurtilbery (“whortleberry”). American English from 1660s.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h?kl??b??i/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h?kl?b(?)?i/

Noun

huckleberry (plural huckleberries)

1. A small round fruit of a dark blue or red color of several plants in the related genera Vaccinium and Gaylussacia.
2. A shrub growing this fruit.
3. A small amount, as in the phrase huckleberry above a persimmon.
5. (slang) A person of little consequence.
6. (US, slang) The person one is looking for; the right person for the job.

   I'm your huckleberry.

Usage notes

While some Vaccinium species, such as Vaccinium parvifolium, the red huckleberry, are always called huckleberries, other species may be called blueberries or huckleberries depending upon local custom. Usually, the distinction between them is that blueberries are white on the inside in most cases compared to huckleberries which vary from red to purple inside with a couple dozen tiny seeds.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

huckleberry (third-person singular simple present huckleberries, present participle huckleberrying, simple past and past participle huckleberried)

1. (intransitive) To pick huckleberries.

See also

• huckle

References