papaya

American  

[puh-pah-yuh] / pəˈpɑ yə /

noun

1. the large, yellow, melonlike fruit of a tropical American shrub or small tree, Carica papaya, eaten raw or cooked.

2. the tree itself.

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papaya British  

/ pəˈpaɪə /

noun

1. a Caribbean evergreen tree, Carica papaya, with a crown of large dissected leaves and large green hanging fruit: family Caricaceae

2. the fruit of this tree, having a yellow or reddish orange sweet edible pulp and small black seeds

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Other Word Forms

• papayan
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of papaya

1760–70; < Spanish < Carib (Hispaniola)

Explanation

A papaya is a sweet tropical fruit with small, black seeds at the center. A papaya and banana smoothie makes a delicious and healthy breakfast. Most people eat papayas raw when the fruit is soft and ripe, although some find the smell of a perfectly ripe papaya to be terrible. Many Southeast Asian and South American cuisines include raw and cooked papaya, as well as green papaya and even the leaves of the papaya tree. Papayas are also called pawpaws, which gets a bit confusing since there's a totally different North American fruit also called a pawpaw.

Example Sentences

Amaya Espinal, the winner of season 7 who was nicknamed "Amaya Papaya", expressed her distaste at the AI fruit re-creation of the show she starred in just last year.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

Watching them from afar, Verstappen could only scoff at the Papaya Rules.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 1, 2025

Right by it was the hot dog shop Gray's Papaya where Joe and Kathleen's newly formed friendship began to flourish, even though Fox Books aided in the demise of her family bookstore.

From Salon • Dec. 25, 2023

Papaya has been spied off the Orange County coast before.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2023

Papaya Tree It grew from a seed I flicked into the back garden.

From "Inside Out and Back Again" by Thanhha Lai

Related Words

• cantaloupe
• gourd
• watermelon