pumpkin

• punkin (US, term of endearment)

Alteration of pompion, pumpion (“pumpkin”) with the diminutive -kin, from Middle French pompon, from Latin pepō (whence English pepo), from Ancient Greek πέπων (pépōn, “large melon”), from πέπων (pépōn, “ripe”), from πέπτω (péptō, “ripen”).^[1] The first attestation is from 1647.^[2]

The alternative theory that it may be from Massachusett pôhpukun (“grows forth round”) is false.^[3]

The automotive sense is by fancied resemblance.

• enPR: pŭmpʹkin
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌmpkɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌm(p).kɪn/, [ˈpʰʌm(p).kʰɪn], [ˈpʰʌŋ̥kɪn]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɐmpkɪn/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈpʊmpkɪn/
• Hyphenation: pump‧kin
• Rhymes: -ʌmpkɪn, -ʌmkɪn

pumpkin (countable and uncountable, plural pumpkins)

2. A domesticated plant, in species Cucurbita pepo, similar in growth pattern, foliage, flower, and fruit to the squash or melon.
   • 2023 August, Batchimeg Togoobat, Nan Wu, Xifeng Wang, Mengji Cao, Zhongtian Xu, “Viromic approach reveals differences in the composition, diversity and relative abundance of pumpkin viruses across main growing regions of China”, in Virology, volume 585, →DOI, pages 61-71:

     Nevertheless, the comprehensive comparative analysis of pumpkin viromes across various geographic regions by NGS remains deficient.

3. The round yellow or orange fruit of this plant.
   • 1904, L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz‎^[2]:

     There were pumpkins in Mombi’s corn-fields, lying golden red among the rows of green stalks; and these had been planted and carefully tended that the four-horned cow might eat of them in the winter time.

4. (uncountable) The typical color of the ripe fruit of the pumpkin plant.

   pumpkin:  

5. (Australia) Any of a number of cultivars from the genus Cucurbita; known in the US as winter squash.
6. (US) A term of endearment for someone small and cute.
   • 1991, John Prine, Pat McLaughlin, “Daddy’s Little Pumpkin”, in The Missing Years (album):

     You must be daddy’s little pumpkin.

7. (informal, automotive) The housing for a differential, built into an axle of a vehicle; the housing and its contents.

• calabash
• calabaza
• gourd
• marrow
• squash