The Hebrew noun nowb means fruit or produce. It is derived from the verb nuwb (H5107, to bear fruit) and refers to the yield or product of plants, trees, or figuratively, of human speech and action. The word emphasizes the result of productive growth.
In wisdom literature, nowb is applied metaphorically to the words that come from a person's mouth — the "fruit of the lips." This connects speech to agriculture: just as a tree is known by its fruit, a person is known by the produce of their words. Righteous speech yields life-giving fruit, while perverse speech produces destruction.