QUINCE

noun Etymology: Middle English quynce ~s, plural of coyn, quyn ~, from Anglo-French coign, from Latin cotoneum, alteration cydonium, from Greek kydōnion Date: 14th century the fruit of a central Asian tree ( Cydonia oblonga ) of the rose family that resembles a hard-fleshed yellow apple and is used especially in preserves, a tree that bears ~s