papaya

/pəˈpaɪə/

/pəˈpaɪə/

Other forms: papayas

A papaya is a sweet tropical fruit with small, black seeds at the center. A papaya and banana smoothie makes a delicious and healthy breakfast.

Most people eat papayas raw when the fruit is soft and ripe, although some find the smell of a perfectly ripe papaya to be terrible. Many Southeast Asian and South American cuisines include raw and cooked papaya, as well as green papaya and even the leaves of the papaya tree. Papayas are also called pawpaws, which gets a bit confusing since there's a totally different North American fruit also called a pawpaw.

Definitions of papaya

1. noun

   tropical American shrub or small tree having huge deeply palmately cleft leaves and large oblong yellow fruit
   synonyms: Carica papaya, melon tree, papaia, papaya tree, pawpaw

   type of:

   fruit tree

   tree bearing edible fruit
2. noun

   large oval melon-like tropical fruit with yellowish flesh
   type of:

   edible fruit

   edible reproductive body of a seed plant especially one having sweet flesh