red currant

Noun

red currant (plural red currants)

1. A deciduous shrub, Ribes rubrum, native to western Europe; any of certain cultivars of the shrub.
   • And a hint of still waters, a stream, a brook, a rivulet, meandering with flashes of brilliance through the lush dense greenery, among shadowy plants that might have been blackberries or redcurrants, although what redcurrants and blackberries might be Yoel had not the faintest notion, and even the...1989, Amos Oz, To Know A Woman, page 109
   • Cultivated redcurrants are most closely related to Ribes rubrum, which like blackcurrants grow in northern Europe and northern Asia, although several other species have had a hand in the development of particular varieties; whitecurrants, for their part, are simply redcurrants with albino genes....2009, Christopher Stocks, Forgotten Fruits: The stories behind Britain's traditional fruit and vegetables, page 93
2. The bright red translucent edible berry of this plant.
   • Her mouth was pale red and translucent, like the skin of a redcurrant.1995, Elizabeth Howard, Casting Off, Cazalet Chronicles, Book 4, 2006, unnumbered page
   • She did not seem too happy to see us at first, but relaxed after she had shown us round their garden and we had tasted redcurrants and gooseberries.2007, Michael Riisager, Letters to Kaia: Adventures of a Danish Boy in England During World War II and After, page 224

   Synonyms:

   garnetberry, wineberry