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Pawpaw
//ˈpɔːpɔː// noun, slang
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:; Asimina, a genus of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba).
- 2 Grandfather. colloquial, dialectal
- 3 Alternative letter-case form of pawpaw (“grandfather”). alt-of
"She had enjoyed a happy childhood, but her one consistent ambition was to join her Pawpaw's law firm."
- 4 fruit with yellow flesh; related to custard apples wordnet
- 5 Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:; Papaya (Carica papaya), a widely cultivated tropical fruit tree.
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- 6 small tree native to the eastern United States having oblong leaves and fleshy fruit wordnet
- 7 Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:; Mountain pawpaw (Vasconcellea pubescens), a fruit tree native to South America.
- 8 tropical American shrub or small tree having huge deeply palmately cleft leaves and large oblong yellow fruit wordnet
- 9 The fruit of these trees.
"Throughout the years it's gone by a lot of names—frost banana, Indiana banana, fetid-bush, bandango, custard apple, prairie banana, poor man's banana—but most of the time it's just been called pawpaw. At first glance, both the fruit and the tree seem out of place in North America."
Etymology
Etymology 1
Via Portuguese and Spanish papaya (which is botanically unrelated) from Lokono papáia; compare also Kari'na kapaja. Doublet of papaya. Alternatively from Yuchi pahpah.
Etymology 2
Related to papa, or pa(w) pa(w) (one’s father’s father).
See also for "pawpaw"
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