noun
- the large, yellow, melonlike fruit of a tropical American shrub or small tree, Carica papaya, eaten raw or cooked.
- the tree itself.
noun
- a Caribbean evergreen tree, Carica papaya, with a crown of large dissected leaves and large green hanging fruit: family Caricaceae
- the fruit of this tree, having a yellow or reddish orange sweet edible pulp and small black seeds
n.1590s for fruit, 1610s for tree, from Spanish, probably from Arawakan (West Indies) papaya.