Rasberry, Raspberry or Razzberry?

Marketers love to write about the delicious fruits we enjoy during summer, but the names of some fruits can continue to confound. Test your knowledge on the way to spell one summer fruit.

What are the correct ways the name of the dark red fruit below can be properly spelled?

1. rasberry

2. raspberry

3. rasberry, raspberry

4. raspberry, razzberry

And the correct answer is option four, “raspberry” and “razzberry.” The “raspberry” spelling is often confused with “rasberry,” in which the silent “p” is omitted. The “razzberry” spelling is a little-used variant that is not listed in all major dictionaries. While we’re here, a quick note on the origin of the other meaning of “raspberry,” the rude sound made by vibrating an extended tongue and lips and then exhaling. This meaning of raspberry comes from rhyming slang. In rhyming slang, a phrase is often used as slang for a word that rhymes with one part of the phrase. For example, “dog and bone” may be used for “phone.” But what often happens is that a phrase gets shortened to one word, and frequently not the one that rhymes. Consequently, a slang synonym can be created that has no obvious relationship to the main word. And “dog” comes to mean “phone.” This is the case with "raspberry." It’s short for "raspberry tart." I hope you can guess the rest.