AI tools

pawpaw

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: paw-paw

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Asimina triloba fruit

Via Portuguese and Spanish papaya (which is botanically unrelated) from Kari'na kapaja; the reason for the change in spelling is unknown.

Via Yuchi pahpah

Alternative forms

Noun

pawpaw (plural pawpaws)

  1. Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
    1. Asimina, a genus of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba).
    2. Papaya (Carica papaya), a widely cultivated tropical fruit tree.
    3. Mountain pawpaw (Vasconcellea pubescens), a fruit tree native to South America.
  2. The fruit of these trees.
    Synonyms: bandango, custard apple, hillbilly mango, prairie banana
    • [2015, Andrew Moore, Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, Chelsea Green Publishing, →ISBN, page 1:
      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.]
    • 2021, Leone Ross, This One Sky Day, Faber & Faber Limited, page 254:
      Xavier sliced the pawpaw in half, emptying the tiny black seeds over the veranda wall.
    • 2023 September 29, Molly Fitzpatrick, “He’s the Pawpaw King of Brooklyn. (What’s a Pawpaw?)”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
      If there were such a thing as an anticapitalist fruit, the pawpaw, commonly foraged in the wild and inherently resistant to commodification, might qualify.
Translations
Further reading

Etymology 2

Related to papa, or pa(w) pa(w) (one’s father’s father).

Alternative forms

Noun

pawpaw (plural pawpaws)

  1. (dialectal or colloquial) Grandfather.
Usage notes
  • Often used as a term of address and hence capitalized, as Pawpaw or PawPaw (or in other spellings, e.g. Paw Paw).
Synonyms

See also

Tagalog

Pronunciation

Adjective

pawpáw (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜏ᜔ᜉᜏ᜔)

  1. level to the brim; smooth on top
    Synonym: pantay-labi

Further reading

  • “pawpaw”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.