papaya
[puh-pah-yuh]
- the large, yellow, melonlike fruit of a tropical American shrub or small tree, Carica papaya, eaten raw or cooked.
- the tree itself.
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Origin of papaya
1760–70; < Spanish < Carib (Hispaniola)
Also called pawpaw.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for papaya
Contemporary Examples
Papaya and Arugula Salad by Anne Byrn The Dinner Doctor offers a salad to please both the palate and the eye.
Papaya is not as sweet as mango or peach, but it gives a salad great texture, flavor, and color.
Historical Examples
A fruit that always appealed to us was the papaya, or pawpaw.
Up the Orinoco and down the MagdalenaH. J. Mozans
It is then placed on a stick which has been secured directly under a papaya fruit.
The Avifauna of Micronesia, Volume 3Rollin H. Baker
Many of the garden plots lay fallow during the war and were allowed to grow up in thick stands of papaya.
The Avifauna of Micronesia, Volume 3Rollin H. Baker
Papaya and small berries were the foods most frequently observed in the stomachs.
The Avifauna of Micronesia, Volume 3Rollin H. Baker
He finished his papaya, then tackled a mango salad, an unusual but delicious breakfast dish.
The Golden SkullJohn Blaine
papaya
- a Caribbean evergreen tree, Carica papaya, with a crown of large dissected leaves and large green hanging fruit: family Caricaceae
- the fruit of this tree, having a yellow or reddish orange sweet edible pulp and small black seeds
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Also called: papaw, pawpaw
Word Origin
C15 papaye, from Spanish papaya, from an American Indian language; compare Carib ababai
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for papaya
n.
1590s for fruit, 1610s for tree, from Spanish, probably from Arawakan (West Indies) papaya.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper