tangerine
noun
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When tangerine was first used in the mid-19th century it was an adjective we'd borrowed from French to describe people or things from or relating to the Moroccan city of Tangier. (The French name for "Tangier" is Tanger.) Within about a hundred years the noun tangerine was being used to refer to the fruit we now know by that name. Although tangerines were at one time thought to be native to Morocco, they are now thought to be indigenous to southeast Asia. As our definition explains, tangerines are technically a kind of mandarin orange-and mandarin is another word we got from the French. The French mandarine is most likely originally from the Portuguese word mandarim, which etymologists believe is probably from the color of a Chinese mandarin's robes.
Examples of tangerine in a Sentence
Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2025
All the Kremlin could do in response was to ban the import of Abkhazian tangerines and advise Russian tourists not to visit the region.
—Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 23 Jan. 2025
Civic groups, churches and the local government provided them with tents for resting, water, toiletries, tea and snacks like tangerines, Choco Pies and instant noodle cups.
—John Yoon, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2024
From the Miami Herald’s archives, here is Michael Crook’s report from March 1989 in Tropic magazine:
Donald Trump in Palm Beach: Hitting a roar nerve
First published March 19, 1989
The sun has disappeared beyond the middle-class condos of West Palm Beach and the western sky is painted tangerine.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for tangerine 
Dictionary Entries Near tangerine
Cite this Entry
“Tangerine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tangerine. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
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tangerine
noun
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