Mikan

Mikan

Citrus unshiu is a seedless and easy-peeling citrus species of Orange, also known as cold hardy mandarin, satsuma mandarin, satsuma orange, Christmas orange, and tangerine. It is probably of Japanese origin and introduced elsewhere.

In Japan, it is known as mikan or formally unshu mikan (Japanese: 温州蜜柑, unshū mikan). In China, it is known as Wenzhou migan (Chinese: 温州蜜柑; pinyin: Wēnzhōu Mìgān), the Japanese name is a result of the local reading of the same characters used in the Chinese. In both languages, the name meaning "Honey Citrus of Wenzhou", Wenzhou being a city in Zhejiang province, China. It is also often known as "Seedless mandarin" (Chinese: 无核桔; pinyin: wúhé jú).

One of the English names for the fruit, "satsuma", is derived from the former Satsuma Province in Japan, from which these fruits were first exported to the West.

The Afrikaans name naartjie is also used in English. It derives originally from the Tamil word nartai meaning citrus. The word has been used in South Africa since 1790, but the first written recorded English use is by Lawrence Green in the Tavern of the Seas, 1947. The "tjie" on the end of naart, indicates a diminutive.