pawpaw

See also: paw-paw

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔːpɔː/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːpɑː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: paw‧paw

Etymology 1

Asimina triloba fruit

Via Portuguese and Spanish papaya (which is botanically unrelated) from Kari'na kapaja; the reason for the change in spelling is unknown.

Via Yuchi pahpah

Alternative forms

• paw-paw

Noun

pawpaw (plural pawpaws)

1. Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
   1. Asimina, a genus of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba).
   2. Papaya (Carica papaya), a widely cultivated tropical fruit tree.
   3. Mountain pawpaw (Vasconcellea pubescens), a fruit tree native to South America.
2. The fruit of these trees.

   Synonyms: bandango, custard apple, hillbilly mango, prairie banana

   • [2015, Andrew Moore, Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, Chelsea Green Publishing, →ISBN, page 1:

     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.]

   • 2021, Leone Ross, This One Sky Day, Faber & Faber Limited, page 254:

     Xavier sliced the pawpaw in half, emptying the tiny black seeds over the veranda wall.

   • 2023 September 29, Molly Fitzpatrick, “He’s the Pawpaw King of Brooklyn. (What’s a Pawpaw?)”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     If there were such a thing as an anticapitalist fruit, the pawpaw, commonly foraged in the wild and inherently resistant to commodification, might qualify.

Translations

any of several trees

• Bulgarian: асимина f (asimina)
• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} папа́ја f (papája)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} papayo (es) m

Asimina

• Bulgarian: асимина f (asimina)
• Spanish: chirimoyo de la Florida m, banano de montaña m

Asimina triloba

• Irish: pápá m

Carica papaya

• Bulgarian: папая f (papaja)

Vasconcellea pubescens

fruit

• Arabic: ببو فاكهَة
• Bulgarian: папая f (papaja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泡泡 (zh) (pàopào)

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: papaija (fi)
• French: asimina f
• German: Papau f, Asimina f
• Irish: pápá m
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: ポーポー (pōpō)
• Macedonian: папа́ја f (papája)
• Maori: papaia, pōpō
• Portuguese: mamão (pt) m
• Russian: азимина (ru) f (azimina), асимина f (asimina)
• Spanish: papaya (es) f
• Swahili: papai (sw)
• Swedish: pawpaw c

Further reading

• pawpaw on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Asimina triloba on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Etymology 2

Related to papa, or pa(w) pa(w) (one’s father’s father).

Alternative forms

• papaw, pappaw

Noun

pawpaw (plural pawpaws)

1. (dialectal or colloquial) Grandfather.

Usage notes

• Often used as a term of address and hence capitalized, as Pawpaw or PawPaw (or in other spellings, e.g. Paw Paw).

Synonyms

• peepaw, pepaw

See also

• mamaw

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /pawˈpaw/ [paʊ̯ˈpaʊ̯]
• Rhymes: -aw
• Syllabification: paw‧paw

Adjective

pawpáw (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜏ᜔ᜉᜏ᜔)

1. level to the brim; smooth on top

   Synonym: pantay-labi

Further reading

• “pawpaw”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018