■ noun
1》 a hard, acid, pear-shaped fruit used in preserves or as flavouring.
2》 the Asian shrub or small tree which bears ~s. [ Cydonia oblonga .]
3》 ( Japanese ~ ) another term for japonica .
Origin
ME (orig. a collective plural): from OFr. cooin , from L. (malum) cotoneum , var. of (malum) cydonium 'apple of Cydonia (= Chania, in Crete)'.