etrog

thumb|An Greek citron|Israeli etrog, with pitam and [[gartel (trough around the center)]] Etrog (, plural: ; Ashkenazi Hebrew: , plural: ), also spelled esrog is the yellow citron (Citrus medica) used by Jews during the weeklong holiday of Sukkot as one of the four species. Together with the lulav, hadass, and aravah, the etrog is taken in hand and held or waved during specific portions of the holiday prayers. Special care is often given to selecting an etrog for the performance of the Sukkot holiday rituals.

==Etymology== The romanization of the Hebrew as etrog from Sephardi Hebrew is widely used. The Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation is esrog or esrig. It has been transliterated as etrog or ethrog in scholarly works. The Hebrew word is thought to derive from the Persian name for the fruit, wādrang, which first appears in the Vendidad. Related words are () and . It has also made its way into Arabic as notably in a hadith collected in the Sahih Muslim. A rare Aramaic form, eṯrungā (), is significant because it retains the alveolar nasal sound (as indicated by the nun) of wādrang, also observable in the English word 'orange'.