Link Centre Dictionary

pumpkin

pump·kin

UK/ˈpʌmpkɪn/ US/ˈpʌm(p).kɪn/ fairly common informal us

noun

1.

a coarse vine widely cultivated for its non-keeping large pulpy round orange fruit with firm orange skin and numerous seeds; subspecies of Cucurbita pepo include the summer squashes and a few autumn squashes

Synonyms
2.

usually large pulpy deep-yellow round fruit of the squash family maturing in late summer or early autumn

Origin

Alteration of pompion, pumpion (“pumpkin”) with the diminutive -kin, from Middle French pompon, from Latin pepō (whence English pepo), from Ancient Greek πέπων (pépōn, “large melon”), from πέπων (pépōn, “ripe”), from πέπτω (péptō, “ripen”). The first attestation is from 1647. The alternative theory that it may be from Massachusett pôhpukun (“grows forth round”) is false. The automotive sense is by fancied resemblance.

Phrases

  • ash pumpkin
  • Asian pumpkin
  • butternut pumpkin
  • Dickinson pumpkin
  • easy peasy pumpkin peasy
  • Japanese pumpkin
  • Jarrahdale pumpkin
  • pilgrim's pumpkin

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.