# pumpkin

Pronunciation: US/AUS say "PUMP-kin" /ˈpʌm(p).kɪn/; UK

## Noun

1. A large edible fruit of the squash family, typically round with a thick orange or yellow rind and many seeds inside; in Australian usage, any winter squash.
   - Simple: A large round vegetable, usually orange, with seeds inside. In Australia, the word also covers other hard-skinned squashes.
   - _She scooped out the seeds before roasting the pumpkin for soup._
   - _Farmers stacked the heavy pumpkins beside the roadside stand._
2. A cultivated vine, most often a variety of Cucurbita pepo, that resembles the squash or melon in its growth, leaves, flowers, and fruit.
   - Simple: A garden vine that produces large round fruit, much like squash or melon.
   - _Every spring he plants a pumpkin in the corner of the vegetable patch._
   - _The pumpkin flowered early, and bees moved between its broad yellow blossoms._
3. The orange color typical of the ripe fruit of the pumpkin plant.
   - Simple: A bright orange color, like that of a ripe pumpkin.
   - _The designer chose a rich pumpkin for the living room walls._
   - _At sunset the whole sky glowed a soft pumpkin._
4. An affectionate name for someone small and cute, often a child or a loved one. *(US)*
   - Simple: A loving name for a small, cute person, often a child.
   - _Goodnight, my little pumpkin, I'll see you in the morning._
   - _Their grandmother always called the youngest boy pumpkin._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The casing built into a vehicle's axle that holds the differential, or that casing together with the gears inside it.

## Origin

An alteration of "pompion" or "pumpion" with the diminutive ending "-kin," from Middle French "pompon," from Latin "pepo" (source of English "pepo"), from Ancient Greek "pepon" ("large melon"), from "pepon" ("ripe"), from "pepto" ("to ripen"). The first attestation dates from 1647.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pumpkin (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).