Grove Spelling Dictionary
Citrus and Its Cousins

citrange

A citrange is a hybrid with a hybrid name. Walter Swingle and Herbert Webber crossed the sweet orange with the hardy trifoliate orange at the United States Department of Agriculture in the 1890s, and the word they made keeps the first half of one parent and the second half of the other. Read the spelling backwards and you can see both.

Say itSIT-rinj

C-I-T-R-A-N-G-E · × Citroncirus webberi

The name is two words welded together, citrus and orange, so its spelling is inherited rather than invented. Both halves brought a soft consonant with them: the c of citrus, which says s because an i follows it, and the g of orange, which says j because an e follows it.

A cross between sweet orange, Citrus sinensis, and the trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata. The fruit is sour and mostly unused, but the plant survives frost that would kill an orange, which is why citranges are grown as rootstock rather than for eating.

6 spellings people write after hearing citrange

citrangthe silent e
citrangeethe ending
cittrangea doubled consonant
sitrangea soft c
citranjea soft g
sitranjetwo decisions at once