melon

See also: Melon, melón, Melón, mełon, melɔn, and meˑlon

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛlən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlən

Etymology 1

From Middle English meloun, melon, from Old French melon, from Late Latin melonem, from Latin melopeponem (“type of pumpkin”), from Ancient Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn), from μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”) + πέπων (pépōn, “ripe”).

Noun

melon (countable and uncountable, plural melons)

1. (countable) Any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae grown for food, generally not including the cucumber.
   1. Genus Cucumis, various musk melons, including honeydew, cantaloupes, and horned melon.
   2. Genus Citrullus, watermelons and others
   3. Genus Benincasa, a winter melon
   4. Genus Momordica, a bitter melon
2. (uncountable) The large, round to ovoid fruits which have rinds of such plants
3. (uncountable) A light pinkish orange colour, like that of some melon flesh.

   melon:  

4. (usually in the plural, slang) Breasts.
   • 2013, K. L. Brady, Got a Right to Be Wrong, page 107:

     “Wait a minute.” I said. “James with another woman? Mommy, that doesn't even sound right?” “It's true. I caught him squeezing her melons.”

   • 1958, Thomas Berger, Crazy in Berlin:

     She indicated her left melon, underneath which lay the heart. “Because you stuck with me, and whether you ever said it or not, that is love.”

5. (countable, slang) The head.

   Think! Use your melon!

6. (countable, Australia, New Zealand, derogatory) A member of the Green Party, or similar environmental group.
7. (countable) A mass of adipose tissue found in the forehead of all toothed whales, used to focus and modulate vocalizations.

Hypernyms

• fruit

Hyponyms

• cantaloupe, citron melon, honeydew, honeydew melon, muskmelon (musk melon), citron melon, Persian melon, rockmelon, watermelon, winter melon

Derived terms

• banana melon
• chest melon
• Christmas melon
• coyote melon
• fodder melon
• fuzzy melon
• Hami melon
• jam melon
• kaffir melon
• Korean melon
• melon aldehyde
• melon baller
• melon ball scooper
• melon beetle
• melon bread
• melon cactus
• melon cutting
• melon head
• melon-headed
• melon-headed whale
• melon heptenal
• melon hole
• Melon rugose mosaic virus
• melon thistle
• melony
• Montreal melon
• Montreal nutmeg melon
• mouse melon
• oriental melon
• pepino melon
• pineapple melon
• preserving melon
• Santa Claus melon
• snake melon
• stock melon

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: メロン
• → Korean: 멜론 (mellon)
• → Welsh: melon

Translations

fruit

• Abkhaz: ашьынка (ašənkʼa)
• Afrikaans: meloen
• Albanian: pjepër (sq) f
• Arabic: شَمَّام m (šammām)

  Egyptian Arabic: شمام m (šammām), شهد m (šahd)

  Hijazi Arabic: خربز m (ḵirbiz)

• Armenian: սեխ (hy) (sex) (Cucumis melo)
• Aromanian: piponj m, peapini m
• Assamese: বাঙী (baṅi)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܦܲܛܝܼܚܵܐ m (pāṭṭīḳa)
• Asturian: melón (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: yemiş (az), qovun (az)
• Bashkir: ҡауын (qawın)
• Belarusian: ды́ня f (dýnja), мэлён m (meljón), малён m (maljón)
• Bengali: খরবুজ (khorbuz), খরমুজ (khormuz), তরমুজ (tormuz)
• Brunei Malay: batat
• Bulgarian: пъ́пеш (bg) m (pǎ́peš)
• Burmese: သခွားမသီး (my) (sa.hkwa:ma.si:) (musk melon), ဖရုံ (my) (hpa.rum) (white gourd melon)
• Catalan: meló (ca) m
• Cheyenne: mȧhōō'o
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 瓜 (gwaa¹)

  Dungan: гуа (gua), тянгуа (ti͡angua)

  Mandarin: 瓜 (zh) (guā), 甜瓜 (zh) (tiánguā)

  Min Nan: 瓜 (koe), 瓜仔 (zh-min-nan) (koe-á)

• Coptic: ⲫⲓϧ m (phix)
• Czech: meloun (cs) m
• Danish: melon c
• Dutch: meloen (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: melono
• Estonian: melon (et)
• Ewe: aɖiba n
• Faroese: melón f
• Finnish: meloni (fi)
• French: melon (fr) m
• Galician: melón (gl) m
• Georgian: ნესვი (nesvi)
• German: Melone (de) f
• Greek: πεπόνι (el) n (pepóni)

  Ancient: πέπων m (pépōn)

• Hawaiian: ipu
• Hebrew: מֶלוֹן (he) m (melon)
• Hindi: मेलन (hi) ? (melan), ख़रबूज़ा (hi) m (xarbūzā)
• Hungarian: dinnye (hu)
• Ido: melono (io)
• Indonesian: melon (id)
• Irish: mealbhacán m
• Italian: melone (it) m
• Japanese: メロン (ja) (meron)
• Kazakh: қауын (kk) (qauyn)
• Khmer: ត្រសក់ស្រូវ (trɑsɑk srǝv)
• Korean: 멜론 (ko) (mellon) (South Korean), 메론 (meron) (South Korean), 향참외 (ko) (hyangchamoe) (North Korean)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کاڵەک (ckb) (kallek)

  Northern Kurdish: gundor (ku) m, petêx (ku) m, qomî (ku) m, qire (ku) m, qawin (ku) m

• Kyrgyz: коон (ky) (koon)
• Lao: ແຕງ (tǣng)
• Latin: pepo m, mēlō m
• Latvian: melone f
• Lithuanian: melionas m
• Luxembourgish: Meloun f
• Macedonian: диња (mk) f (dinja)
• Malay: melon
• Malayalam: മത്തങ്ങ (mattaṅṅa)
• Maltese: bettieħa f
• Maori: kākāriki (mi), merengi
• Mingrelian: შინკა (šinḳa)
• Mongolian: амтат гуа (amtat gua)
• Navajo: taʼneeskʼání
• Norwegian: melon (no)
• O'odham: miloni
• Occitan: melon (oc)
• Ojibwe: ezaawaanh, eshkandaming
• Old East Slavic: дꙑнꙗ f (dynja)
• Persian: خربزه (fa) (xarboze)
• Polish: melon (pl) m
• Portuguese: melão (pt) m
• Quechua: milun
• Romanian: pepene (ro), pepene galben (ro)
• Russian: ды́ня (ru) f (dýnja)
• Sanskrit: खर्बूज (sa) m (kharbūja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ди̏ња f

  Roman: dȉnja (sh) f

• Sicilian: miluni (scn) m
• Sinhalese: කොමඩු ? (komaḍu)
• Slovak: melón (sk) m
• Slovene: melona (sl) f
• Somali: batikh ?
• Spanish: melón (es) m
• Swedish: melon (sv) c
• Tagalog: milon, melon
• Tajik: харбуза (tg) (xarbuza)
• Tatar: кавын (tt) (qawın)
• Telugu: ఖర్బూజాపండు (te) (kharbūjāpaṇḍu)
• Thai: แตง (th) (dtɛɛng)
• Tigrinya: ሓብሓብ ? (ḥabḥab)
• Turkish: kavun (tr)
• Turkmen: gawun
• Ukrainian: ди́ня f (dýnja)
• Urdu: خربوزہ m (xarbūza), میلن (melan)
• Uyghur: قوغۇن (qoghun)
• Uzbek: qovun (uz)
• Vietnamese: dưa tây
• White Hmong: dib
• Yiddish: מעלאָן m (melon)

colour

• French: melon (fr) m or f
• Greek: πεπονί n (peponí)
• Turkish: kavuniçi (tr)

slang: breasts

• Bulgarian: цици (bg) f pl (cici)
• Finnish: melonit (fi) pl, munkit (fi) pl
• French: melons (fr) m pl, pastèques (fr) f pl
• German: Melonen (de) pl or f
• Greek: πεπόνια (el) n pl (pepónia)
• Italian: meloni (it) pl
• Polish: melony m pl
• Portuguese: melões (pt) m pl
• Russian: до́йка (ru) f (dójka), бу́фер (ru) m (búfer)
• Turkish: karpuzlar pl

Adjective

melon

1. Of a light pinkish orange colour, like that of melon flesh.

Translations

colour

• Bulgarian: пъпешов (pǎpešov)
• Greek: πεπονής (peponís), πεπονόχρους (peponóchrous)
• Ido: melonea
• Turkish: kavuniçi (tr)

See also

• Appendix:Colors
• calabash
• cantaloupe
• casaba
• crenshaw
• melinite
• spanspek

 

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Alternative forms

• mellon

Noun

melon (uncountable)

1. (chemistry) The result of heptazine being polymerized with the tri-s-triazine units linked through an amine (NH) link.

Anagrams

• Lemon, Menlo, Monel, lemon, nmole

Chavacano

Etymology

From Spanish melón (“melon”).

Noun

melon

1. melon

Danish

Noun

melon c (singular definite melonen, plural indefinite meloner)

1. melon

Declension

Declension of melon

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	melon	melonen	meloner	melonerne
genitive	melons	melonens	meloners	melonernes

Derived terms

• honningmelon
• vandmelon

 

References

• “melon” in Den Danske Ordbog

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmelon]
• Rhymes: -elon
• Hyphenation: me‧lon

Noun

melon

1. accusative singular of melo

Finnish

Verb

melon

1. first-person singular present indicative of meloa

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French melon, from Late Latin mēlōnem, shortening of Latin mēlopepō, from Ancient Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn, “melon”). More at English melon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mə.lɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

melon m (plural melons)

1. melon (fruit)

Derived terms

• avoir le melon
• chapeau melon
• melon de France
• melon de Montréal
• melon d’eau

 

Further reading

• “melon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Noun

melon (first-person possessive melonku, second-person possessive melonmu, third-person possessive melonnya)

1. melon

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

melon m (definite singular melonen, indefinite plural meloner, definite plural melonene)

1. melon

Derived terms

• vannmelon

 

References

• “melon” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

melon m (definite singular melonen, indefinite plural melonar, definite plural melonane)

1. melon

References

• “melon” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Etymology

From Late Latin mēlō, mēlōnem, shortening of Latin mēlopepō, from Ancient Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn, “melon”).

Noun

melon oblique singular, m (oblique plural melons, nominative singular melons, nominative plural melon)

1. melon (fruit)
   • 1256, Aldebrandin de Sienne, Rég. du corps

     fera une decoction de violetes, de poumes de semence de cahoides, de melons, de citroles, d'ierbes froides

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• → Middle Dutch: melone
  • Afrikaans: meloen
  • Dutch: meloen
• → Middle English: mē̆loun, melon, milon
  • → English: melon, mellon
    • → Japanese: メロン
    • → Korean: 멜론 (mellon)
    • → Welsh: melon
• French: melon

Polish

melon

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mēlō, mēlōnis, from Ancient Greek μῆλον, μηλοπέπων (mêlon, mēlopépōn).

Noun

melon m inan (diminutive melonik)

1. melon (any plant of the family Cucurbitaceae)
2. melon (fruit)
3. (colloquial, humorous) female breast

   Synonym: balon

4. (colloquial) one million big ones (one million of any currency, especially PLN)

   Synonyms: bańka, duża bańka

5. (cetology) melon (mass of adipose tissue found in the forehead of all toothed whales)

Declension

Declension of melon

	singular	plural
nominative	melon	melony
genitive	melona	melonów
dative	melonowi	melonom
accusative	melon	melony
instrumental	melonem	melonami
locative	melonie	melonach
vocative	melonie	melony

Derived terms

adjective

• melonowy

 

noun

• melonowiec

 

Related terms

adjective

• melonowcowaty

 

Further reading

• melon in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• melon in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French melon.

Noun

melon n (plural meloane)

1. bowler hat

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	melon	melonul		meloane	meloanele
genitive-dative	melon	melonului		meloane	meloanelor
vocative	melonule			meloanelor

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian melone, from Late Latin mēlō, mēlōnem.

Noun

melon c

1. melon
2. (slang) melon (breast)

   Schyssta meloner! ― Nice melons!

Declension

Declension of melon

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	melon	melons
	definite	melonen	melonens
plural	indefinite	meloner	meloners
	definite	melonerna	melonernas

Derived terms

• Galiamelon
• honungsmelon
• matmelon
• nätmelon
• sockermelon
• stenmelon
• vattenmelon

 

References

• melon in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• melon in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• melon in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: me‧lon
• IPA^(key): /meˈlon/, [mɛˈlon̪]

Noun

melón (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜎᜓᜈ᜔)

1. Alternative form of milon

Welsh

Alternative forms

• melwn

Etymology

Borrowed from English melon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛlɔn/

Noun

melon m (plural melonau or melons)

1. melon

Mutation

Mutated forms of melon

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
melon	felon	unchanged	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “melon”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies