means A round, fuzzy-skinned stone fruit with sweet juicy flesh, prized for its delicate flavor and softness — and used affectionately to call a person or thing especially lovely.

from From Latin 'persicum,' short for 'malum persicum' — the 'Persian apple' — because Romans believed the fruit came from Persia, though it had actually traveled there along ancient trade routes from China, its true homeland. The Latin 'persica' softened through Old French 'pesche' into Middle English 'peche,' losing its geography along the way: a fruit named for a country it never started in.