plum
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plum
A sweet, juicy stone fruit with smooth, usually bluish or purple skin and an elongated pit.
Im Spätsommer backen wir immer einen Kuchen mit frischen Pflaumen aus dem Garten.
In late summer, we always bake a cake with fresh plums from the garden.
idiot / klutz
A colloquial, derogatory term for a clumsy, incompetent, or simple-minded person.
Wie konntest du nur den Ball verfehlen, du Pflaume!
How could you miss the ball, you idiot!
plum tree
Short form for the plum tree, meaning the tree on which plums grow.
Unsere alte Pflaume im Garten muss leider gefällt werden.
Unfortunately, our old plum tree in the garden has to be cut down.
You can recognize the meaning from the context. If it is about eating or baking, the fruit is meant. If a person is being addressed directly, it is an insult. If it is about the garden or trees, the tree is meant.
Ich esse gern Joghurt mit frischen Pflaumen.
I like eating yogurt with fresh plums.
As an insult, 'Pflaume' (idiot/klutz) is very colloquial and is often perceived as not very strong, but still derogatory. It is usually used in informal situations among friends or in sports.
Er hat den einfachsten Pass nicht angenommen, was für eine Pflaume!
He didn't receive the easiest pass—what an idiot!
When referring to the fruit, typical verbs are 'pflücken' (to pick), 'essen' (to eat), or 'backen' (to bake). Common combinations are also 'Pflaumenkuchen' (plum cake) or 'getrocknete Pflaumen' (dried plums/prunes).
Meine Oma macht den besten Pflaumenkuchen der Welt.
My grandma makes the best plum cake in the world.
In Austria and southern Germany, the word 'die Zwetschge' is used almost exclusively for a particular subspecies of plum that is more oval in shape.
Für diesen Schnaps verwenden wir nur reife Zwetschgen.
For this schnapps, we use only ripe damson plums.
