marrow squash

5.3

A long green vegetable like a large zucchini with pale inside used for cooking

noun
/ˈmɛroʊ skwɑʃ/

: calabacín

I bought a fresh marrow squash from the farmer's market.

Examples

Stuffed marrow squash is a traditional dish in many European countries.
The recipe called for one large marrow squash sliced into thin rounds.
She grew several types of marrow squash in her garden every summer.
Have you ever tried cooking with marrow squashes?
The recipe called for one large marrow squash sliced into thin rounds.
Stuffed marrow squash is a traditional dish in many European countries.
I bought a fresh marrow squash from the farmer's market.

Synonyms

squash

vsmarrow squash

68 1.6

A large edible fruit from plants like pumpkin or zucchini used as a vegetable

is a specific elongated type rather than the general gourd category

marrow

vsmarrow squash

1 4.7

A large green vegetable like a squash with pale flesh

uses a longer compound name instead of the shorter common form

vegetable marrow

vsmarrow squash

1 6.4

A long green summer squash with pale inside that people eat

is the general type not limited to the summer-growing variety

How Big

pumpkin

338 1.0

marrow squash

5.3

squash

68 1.6

zucchini

44 1.6

Surface Forms

marrow squash singular

marrow squashes plural

Morphology

marrow + squash

The compound simply names a variety of squash where 'marrow' specifies the type and 'squash' denotes the vegetable, so its meaning ('a type of squash') is directly derivable from the constituents. This noun+noun composition is a common, non-idiomatic pattern cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.

Etymology

The noun marrow squash may come from the soft, pale inside of the vegetable that people thought looked like marrow, meaning 'the soft inside of bones', so they named this kind of squash after it. That's why today marrow squash means a large squash with smooth dark green skin and pale, soft flesh used as a vegetable.