What does "lychee" mean?

The Chinese tropical fruit tree Litchi chinensis, of the soapberry family.

What is a synonym for "lychee"?

Common synonyms include: leechee, lichee, lichi, litchee, litchi, litchi.

//ˈlaɪ̯t͡ʃi// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The Chinese tropical fruit tree Litchi chinensis, of the soapberry family. countable, uncountable
2
Chinese fruit having a thin brittle shell enclosing a sweet jellylike pulp and a single seed; often dried wordnet
3
That tree's bright red oval fruit with a single stone surrounded by a fleshy white aril. countable, uncountable
"No Chinese meal is complete without some succulent dim sims (pork minced with water chestnuts and enclosed in paste), and such sweets as honeyed lychee nuts and honeyed ginger."
4
A soft pink-red colour, like that of a lychee rind (also called lychee red). uncountable

"Since Chiro is a cat, he doesn't like lychee."

* /ˈlaɪ̯.t͡ʃi/, /laɪ̯ˈt͡ʃiː/ from Cantonese 荔枝 (lai⁶ zi¹) * /ˈlit͡ʃi/ from Hokkien 荔枝 (lē-chi) Doublet of litchi and lichi.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.