melon

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛlən/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈmelən/

  • Audio (Australia):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlən

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

melon (countable and uncountable, plural melons)

1. (countable) Some of the plants of the family Cucurbitaceae grown for food, generally not including the cucumber.
   1. Genus Cucumis, the true melon (including various cultigens like honeydew and cantaloupes), the horned melon, and others.
   2. Genus Citrullus, the watermelon and others.
   3. Benincasa hispida, the winter melon.
   4. Momordica charantia, the bitter melon.
2. (countable and uncountable) The large, round to ovoid fruits that have rinds and are of such plants.
   • 2000, Frank F[urlong] Mathias, “Camp Black Hawk and Carlisle Christianity”, in The GI Generation: A Memoir, Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 198:

     The game was up and we began paddling furiously for the opposite shore. This caused Flora to shout all the louder: “Boy! Boys! Don’t let the melons get away. Keep the dadblasted things. If you don’t the whole pack of you will be back to plug and ruin another batch!” So we did, sitting down in a ravine out of sight of the scoutmaster. Red looked up, his florid, freckled face wet with melon, and grinned widely: “You know, fellers, I just don’t know what we’d do without Mr. Flora.” Red was to wind up watermelonless in the U.S. Navy!

   • 2010 July 5, Elaine Louie, “The Temporary Vegetarian: Grilled Watermelon and Tomato Salad”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 July 2010:

     Six years ago, when Daniel Humm, the 33-year-old executive chef at Eleven Madison Park, was traveling in Barcelona, Spain, he discovered cooks grilling slices of melon and serving them at a tapas bar.

3. (uncountable) A light pinkish orange color, like that of some melon flesh.

   melon:  

4. (usually in the plural, slang) The breasts.
   • 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.”

   • 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.”

5. (countable, slang) The head, the brain.

   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.

• See Thesaurus:breasts

• fruit

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

• → Cornish: melon
• → Japanese: メロン
• → Korean: 멜론 (mellon)
• → Welsh: melon
• ⇒ Tamil: முலாம்பழம் (mulāmpaḻam)

melon

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

melon (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of mellon.

• Lemon, Menlo, Monel, lemon, nmole

Inherited from Spanish melón (“melon”).

IPA^(key): /meˈlon/ [me.ˈlon]

• Rhymes: -on
• Hyphenation: me‧lón

melón

1. melon

Borrowed from English melon.

melon m (plural melonyow)

1. melon

   Synonym: pompyon hweg

melon c (singular definite melonen, plural indefinite meloner)

1. melon

• “melon” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /ˈmelon/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -elon
• Syllabification: me‧lon

melon

1. accusative singular of melo

melon

1. first-person singular present indicative of meloa

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

• IPA^(key): /mə.lɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

melon m (plural melons)

1. melon (fruit)

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

Borrowed from English melon or Dialectical Dutch melone (compare Middle Dutch melone, whence Standard Dutch meloen), both from Middle French 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”). Displaced earlier melun, which was borrowed from Dutch meloen.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /məˈlon/ [məˈlon]
• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: me‧lon

melon (plural melon-melon)

1. muskmelon; cantaloupe (Cucumis melo subsp. melo)

   Synonym: (rare) kerahi

• “melon”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

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

1. melon

• “melon” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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

1. melon

• “melon” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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

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)

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

Learned borrowing from Late Latin mēlōnis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.lɔn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlɔn
• Syllabification: me‧lon
• Homophone: Melon

melon m inan (diminutive melonik, related adjective melonowy)

1. melon (any plant of the family Cucurbitaceae)
2. melon (Cucumis melo)

   Synonym: ogórek melon

3. melon (large, round to ovoid fruits that have rinds and are of such plants)
4. (colloquial, humorous, chiefly in the plural) huge female breast

   Synonym: balon

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

   Synonyms: bańka, duża bańka

6. (cetology) melon (mass of adipose tissue found in the forehead of all toothed whales, used to focus and modulate vocalizations)

• “melon”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “melony”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “melon”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)
• melon in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from French melon.

melon n (plural meloane)

1. bowler hat

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

• IPA^(key): /mɛlˈuːn/

melon c

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

   Schyssta meloner! ― Nice melons!

• “melon”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “melon”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “melon”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• milon

Borrowed from Spanish melón, from Late Latin mēlōnem, shortening of Latin mēlopepō, borrowed from Koine Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn), from Ancient Greek μῆλον (mêlon, “apple; tree fruit”) + πέπων (pépōn, “cooked by the sun, ripe; mellow”).

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /meˈlon/ [mɛˈlon̪]
• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: me‧lon

melón (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜎᜓᜈ᜔)

1. melon

• “melon”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “milon”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018
• Serrano Laktaw, Pedro (1914), Diccionario tagálog-hispano (overall work in Tagalog and Spanish), Intramuros, Manila: Ateneo de Manila., page 829

• melwn

Borrowed from English melon.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛlɔn/

melon m (plural melonau or melons)

1. melon

• 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