pumpkin
Americannoun
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pumpkins
plural
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a large, edible, orange-yellow fruit borne by a coarse, decumbent vine, Cucurbita pepo, of the gourd family.
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the similar fruit of any of several related species, as C. maxima or C. moschata.
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a plant bearing such fruit.
noun
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any of several creeping cucurbitaceous plants of the genus Cucurbita, esp C. pepo of North America and C. maxima of Europe
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the large round fruit of any of these plants, which has a thick orange rind, pulpy flesh, and numerous seeds
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( as modifier )
pumpkin pie
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(often capital) a term of endearment
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pumpkin
1640–50; alteration of pumpion ( see -kin), variant of pompon < Middle French, nasalized variant of popon melon, earlier pepon < Latin pepōn- (stem of pepō ) < Greek pépōn kind of melon
Explanation
A pumpkin is a round, orange type of squash that grows on a plant also called a pumpkin. It’s the raw material for a jack-o’-lantern. Cook one up in a pie or name your precious poodle after it. Pumpkins are most commonly harvested in the fall, and they're often associated with Halloween, when people traditionally hollow them out and carve faces on them. Pumpkin is delicious in sweet and savory foods, and pumpkin pie is a popular Thanksgiving dessert in the US. The word was originally pompone, from the Greek root pepon, "melon," or literally, "cooked by the sun."
Vocabulary lists containing pumpkin
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:
Do you have the same old chocolate bars in the pumpkin by the door this year?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
Some autumnal ale: It can be delightful when craft breweries churn out seasonally inspired flavors, but what happens when we start being served pumpkin beer in August, or Christmas beer before Halloween?
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026
Toppings included puréed pumpkin, diced chicken and sweet potato.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
In addition, they run a popular pumpkin event which attracts around 120,000 people each year.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
I took a pumpkin and a few grains of rice to my Goddess, and I wept at her feet.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
With the biggest whoppers selling for upwards of £15 a piece, a fun family day out pushing wheelbarrows full of pumpkins can become costly, yet some attractions sell out quickly.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
It’s likely that pumpkins for pie fillings will cost more, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
It could easily be an elongated version of one of her later pumpkins, rendered both in two dimensions and as sculptures, whose vibrant flesh and spotted surfaces have charmed so many.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Daisy’s husband Matt, for one, feels torn about the spoopiness that retailers foreground with their shelves of pastel pumpkins and rainbow-hued ghosts, and not just because of the aesthetics.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
North America’s first gardeners were those who got tired of combing the undergrowth for edible gourds and decided to cultivate pumpkins.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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