Definition of PAWPAW

pawpaw

Plural: pawpaws

Noun

  • A North American fruit tree or its edible, greenish-yellow fruit.
  • tropical American shrub or small tree having huge deeply palmately cleft leaves and large oblong yellow fruit
  • small tree native to the eastern United States having oblong leaves and fleshy fruit
  • fruit with yellow flesh; related to custard apples
  • Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
  • Asimina, a genus of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba).
  • Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
  • Papaya (Carica papaya), a widely cultivated tropical fruit tree.
  • Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
  • Mountain pawpaw (Vasconcellea pubescens), a fruit tree native to South America.
  • The fruit of these trees.
  • Grandfather.

Examples

  • He scored big with PAWPAW, a delightful word for a fruit he enjoyed.

Origin / Etymology

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

Synonyms

Asimina triloba, Carica papaya, melon tree, papaia, papaw, papaw tree, papaya, papaya tree, bandango, custard apple, hillbilly mango, peepaw, pepaw, prairie banana

Scrabble Score: 16

pawpaw: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
pawpaw: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
pawpaw: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 18

pawpaw: valid Words With Friends Word