pawpaw en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈpɑːpɑː/ (cot-caught-merger)
- /ˈpɔːpɔː/
- (US) audio
Etymology
Via Portuguese and Spanish papaya from Lokono papáia; compare also Kari'na kapaja. Doublet of papaya. Alternatively from Yuchi pahpah.
Meanings
-
Any of several types of trees having edible fruit ▸ Any member of the genus Asimina of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba).
Throughout the years it's gone by a lot of names—frost banana, Indiana banana, fetid-bush, bandango, custard apple, prairie banana, poor man's banana—but most of the time it's just been called pawpaw. At first glance, both the fruit and the tree seem out of place in North America.
[2015, Andrew Moore, Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, Chelsea Green Publishing, →ISBN, page 1:If there were such a thing as an anticapitalist fruit, the pawpaw, commonly foraged in the wild and inherently resistant to commodification, might qualify.
2023 September 29, Molly Fitzpatrick, “He’s the Pawpaw King of Brooklyn. (What’s a Pawpaw?)”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- (Australia) Any of several types of trees having edible fruit ▸ Papaya (Carica papaya), a widely cultivated tropical fruit tree.
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Any of several types of trees having edible fruit ▸ Mountain pawpaw (Vasconcellea pubescens), a fruit tree native to South America.
Xavier sliced the pawpaw in half, emptying the tiny black seeds over the veranda wall.
2021, Leone Ross, This One Sky Day, Faber & Faber Limited, page 254:
- The fruit itself of such trees.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| paw-paw | alternative | lexicographic | |
| pawpaws | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| papaw | alternative | lexicographic |
Synonyms
hillbilly mango · papaya · mountain papaya · prairie banana · mountain pawpaw · custard apple
Translations (24)
ja ポーポー (fruit) · bg папая (fruit) · ru азимина (fruit) · sw papai (fruit) · de Asimina (fruit) · sv pawpaw (fruit) · unm mahchikpi (Asimina triloba) · de Papau (fruit) · cmn 泡泡 (fruit) · fi papaija (fruit) · mi papaia (fruit) · ru асимина (fruit) · es papaya (fruit) · ga pápá (Asimina triloba) · ar ببو فاكهَة (fruit) · bg асимина (Asimina) · fr asimina (fruit) · ga pápá (fruit) · es chirimoyo de la Florida (Asimina) · bg асимина (any of several trees) · pt mamão (fruit) · mk папа́ја (fruit) · es banano de montaña (Asimina) · mi pōpō (fruit)