pumpkin
Americannoun
-
pumpkins
plural
-
a large, edible, orange-yellow fruit borne by a coarse, decumbent vine, Cucurbita pepo, of the gourd family.
-
the similar fruit of any of several related species, as C. maxima or C. moschata.
-
a plant bearing such fruit.
noun
-
any of several creeping cucurbitaceous plants of the genus Cucurbita, esp C. pepo of North America and C. maxima of Europe
-
-
the large round fruit of any of these plants, which has a thick orange rind, pulpy flesh, and numerous seeds
-
( as modifier )
pumpkin pie
-
-
(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:
Instead, I’ve been looking at plane tickets, researching heart failure and ordering groceries that, at first, didn’t make much sense together: zucchini, canned pumpkin, chocolate chunks, sticks of cold salted butter.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
For most of us, autumn means falling leaves, shorter days, returning to school and the more modern tradition of pumpkin spice lattes popping up again.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Watch the export miracle turn into a pumpkin or improvise.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
The carriage has turned back into a pumpkin, the ballgown is once again just tattered clothing and all the horses have gone back to being mice.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
Everyone else has some dumb story about trick-or-treating or a cat scared of a pumpkin.
From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle
The dotty pumpkins and kaleidoscope rooms of Yayoi Kusama, who has died aged 97, were as vibrant as the artist herself, but her exuberant work was the expression of a long battle with mental illness.
From Barron's ● 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
However the pumpkins got there, it was an uplifting sight, as was the greening of the mountains and foothills just up the way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
That’s on the higher end compared with others, but Gienger gets free supplies from sponsorships and has sold pumpkins afterward for thousands of dollars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025
He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
