pawpaw
Americannoun
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pawpaws
plural
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a tree, Asimina triloba, of the annona family, native to the eastern United States, having large, oblong leaves and purplish flowers.
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the fleshy, edible fruit of this tree.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pawpaw
First recorded in 1620–30; unexplained variant of papaye “papaya”; see papaya
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Finger limes, pomelos, pawpaw and sapote, to name a handful.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
He went from standard citrus, apricot and avocado to a more exotic collection, adding finger limes, valentine pummelos, jaboticaba, cherimoya and pawpaw.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025
Peterson tasted his first pawpaw, from a wild growing tree, in his university's arboretum as a graduate student studying plant genetics.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024
"I don't think any of us expected it to be the next kiwi at Kroger," said Kirk Pomper, a horticulturist and research lead of Kentucky State University's pawpaw research program.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024
Mom jumps from the taxi in her sling-back pumps and runs past the giant bird of paradise bushes, past the rotting pawpaw tree, and up the three front steps of Abuela Celia’s house.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
Fryar, who wrote a book about the Potomac after discovering its hidden wilds, plans to stop foraging for pawpaws and a leafy green called sochan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
According to Brannan, it's likely pawpaws will show up in the 2025 edition of the database, setting groundwork for more nutritional awareness and probably product development.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024
Indeed, as more researchers begin to study pawpaws — focusing on agroforestry, food science, and operations management — other entities continue to push the crop.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024
Like peaches or pears, pawpaws produce ethylene, a hormone that causes the fruit to soften and brown.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024
“Oh, look, those pawpaws are almost ripe. Lotekwa, don’t forget to pluck them.”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
