pumpkin

• punkin (US, term of endearment)

From Middle French pompon, from Latin pepō, from Ancient Greek πέπων (pépōn, “large melon”), from πέπων (pépōn, “ripe”), from πέπτω (péptō, “ripen”). Suffixed with the now obsolete diminutive -kin. Doublet of pepo.

The alternative theory that it may be from Massachusett pôhpukun (“grows forth round”) is false.[1]

• enPR: pŭmpʹkin, IPA^(key): /ˈpʌm(p).kɪn/
• Hyphenation: pump‧kin

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -ʌmpkɪn, -ʌmkɪn

pumpkin (countable and uncountable, plural pumpkins)

1. A domesticated plant, in species Cucurbita pepo, similar in growth pattern, foliage, flower, and fruit to the squash or melon.
2. The round yellow or orange fruit of this plant.
   • 1904, L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz‎:

     There were pumpkins in Mombi’s corn-fields, lying golden red among the rows of green stalks; and these had been planted and carefully tended that the four-horned cow might eat of them in the winter time.

3. (uncountable) The color of the fruit of the pumpkin plant.

   pumpkin:  

4. (Australia) Any of a number of cultivars from the genus Cucurbita; known in the US as winter squash.
5. (US) A term of endearment for someone small and cute.
   • 1991, John Prine, Pat McLaughlin (lyrics and music), “Daddy’s Little Pumpkin”, in The Missing Years (album):

     You must be daddy’s little pumpkin.

• calabash
• calabaza
• gourd
• marrow
• squash