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Etymology

Early varieties discovered and cultivated in China, were described in a 1904 nursery catalogue as having "...edible fruits the size of walnuts, and the flavour of ripe gooseberries ", leading to the name Chinese gooseberry.

In the late 1950s, a major New Zealand exporter began calling it "kiwifruit" (Māori: huakiwi) after being advised by a United States client that border officials might associate gooseberries with the risk of anthrax. The name was first registered by Turners & Growers on 15 June 1959 and commercially adopted in 1974.

In New Zealand and Australia, the word kiwi alone either refers to the bird or is used as a nickname for New Zealanders; it is almost never used to refer to the fruit. Kiwifruit has since become a common name for all commercially grown green kiwifruit from the genus Actinidia. In the United States and Canada, the shortened name kiwi is commonly used when referring to the fruit.