Pumpkin

Pronunciation

• enPR: pÅ­mpʹkin, IPA: /ˈpÊŒmpkɪn/
• Hyphenation: pump + kin

Alternative forms

• (US, term of endearment) punkin

Origin

From Middle French pompon, from Latin pepō, from Ancient Greek πέπων (pepōn, "large melon"), from πέπων (pepōn, "ripe"), from πέπτω (peptō, "ripen").

Full definition of pumpkin

Noun

1. A domesticated plant, in species Cucurbita pepo, similar in growth pattern, foliage, flower, and fruit to the squash or melon.
2. The round yellow or orange fruit of this plant.
• 1904, L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz, http://www.literature.org/authors/baum-l-frank/the-marvelous-land-of-oz/chapter-01.html:There were pumpkins in Mombi’s corn-fields, lying golden red among the rows of green stalks; and these had been planted and carefully tended that the four-horned cow might eat of them in the winter time.
3. The color of the fruit of the pumpkin plant.
4. (Australia) Any of a number of cultivars from the genus Cucurbita; known in the US as winter squash.
5. (US) A term of endearment for someone small and cute.
• 1991, John Prine, Pat McLaughlin, Daddy’s Little Pumpkin (song), The Missing Years (album):You must be daddy’s little pumpkin.

Derived terms

• pumpkineer
• pumpkinification
• pumpkinless
• pumpkin pie
• pumpkinseed