papaya

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish papaya,^[2][3][4][5] which in the 16th century (1535–57) named the tree, now papayo, and only from 1780 the fruit.^[2] Klein and Chambers likewise give the two Spanish forms, one for the tree and one for the fruit.^[6][7] The Spanish word is probably from Taíno papaya, also Lokono papaia;^[2] Wiktionary likewise traces it to Lokono, an Arawakan language,^[1] the American Heritage Dictionary calls the word Arawakan,^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline say probably Arawakan of the West Indies,^[4][3] and Dictionary.com takes it from Carib as spoken on Hispaniola.^[8] The OED notes that Oviedo (1535) gives papaya as the name used on Hispaniola, that Breton's Carib dictionary (1665) has Carib ababai for the tree, and that Gilij (1782) found some form of the name among all the peoples of the Orinoco;^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Skeat also compare the Carib word.^[9][10] The first English record translates a Dutch text, whose Dutch Papaios (1596) is probably from Spanish.^[2] The word also passed into French papaye (1579), Italian papaia (1565) and Portuguese papaia (1596), and with the plant to the East Indies, as Malay papaya and Tagalog papaya.^[2] Pawpaw is a variant of it, apparently a shortening;^[2][3][1] Hoad calls the change of form unexplained.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fruit of the tree: 1598, in W. Phillip's translation of Linschoten's Discours of Voyages.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also date it to 1598, and Etymonline to the 1590s;^[12][9][3] the first English spelling was papaio.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The name of the fruit was soon applied to the tree itself, from 1613 in Purchas's Pilgrimage,^[2][12] also more fully as papaya tree.^[2] The present spelling papaya is recorded from 1769,^[12] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1760–70.^[8] Collins notes that the tree and fruit are also called papaw or pawpaw.^[13]

Timeline

• 1598 – the fruit, spelled papaio.^[2][12]
• 1613 – the tree that bears it.^[2][12]
• 1769 – the spelling papaya.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fast-growing tropical American tree, Carica papaya, with a crown of large lobed leaves and big hanging fruit.^[9][13][2]
2. The large oblong fruit of this tree, with sweet yellow to orange flesh and many small black seeds, eaten raw or cooked: She sliced a ripe papaya for breakfast.^[2][13][9]

Word family

• papayan

Related words

• pawpaw

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins