pumpkin

/ˈpʌm(p)kən/

/ˈpʌmpkɪn/

Other forms: pumpkins

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."

Definitions of pumpkin

1. noun

   a coarse vine widely cultivated for its large pulpy round orange fruit with firm orange skin and numerous seeds; subspecies of Cucurbita pepo include the summer squashes and a few autumn squashes
   synonyms: Cucurbita pepo, autumn pumpkin, pumpkin vine

   type of:

   squash, squash vine

   any of numerous annual trailing plants of the genus Cucurbita grown for their fleshy edible fruits
2. noun

   usually large pulpy deep-yellow round fruit of the squash family maturing in late summer or early autumn
   type of:

   veg, vegetable, veggie

   edible seeds or roots or stems or leaves or bulbs or tubers or nonsweet fruits of any of numerous herbaceous plant