melon tree

3.7

A small tropical tree that grows papayas

noun
/ˈmɛlən tri/

: papayo

The melon tree in our backyard produces fruit all year round.

Examples

The huge leaves of the melon tree provide excellent shade in the garden.
After moving to the tropics, she planted a melon tree to enjoy fresh papayas.
The melon tree produces sweet fruit.
I saw a melon tree in the garden.
The melon tree in our backyard produces fruit all year round.
After moving to the tropics, she planted a melon tree to enjoy fresh papayas.
The huge leaves of the melon tree provide excellent shade in the garden.

Synonyms

papaya

vsmelon tree

3 1.8

A tropical tree with large lobed leaves that grows sweet orange fruit

focuses on the plant generally without seed or extra color detail

papaia

vsmelon tree

Archaic

8.1

A tropical tree that produces large sweet yellow fruit

is the regular or standard spelling for that plant name

Carica papaya

vsmelon tree

Specialized

6.5

A tropical small tree with large yellow fruit called papaya

is the common descriptive name used in everyday descriptions

papaya tree

vsmelon tree

2.3

A tropical tree that grows sweet yellow-orange fruit and has very large leaves

includes both shrub and small tree forms, not only full trees

How Big

melon tree

3.7

sapling

16 2.7

seedling

20 2.8

Surface Forms

melon tree singular

melon trees plural

Morphology

melon + tree

Although the compound follows a transparent composition pattern (X + tree), a B1 learner who knows 'melon' and 'tree' would naturally infer 'a tree that bears melons.' The listed meaning refers specifically to papaya, which is not predictable from the constituents, so the actual referent cannot be derived and would likely mislead learners.

Etymology

The name melon tree may come from people seeing a big, sweet fruit growing on a tree and thinking of a melon. Because that fruit is actually the 'papaya', the name stuck and now melon tree is used to mean the tree that grows the 'papaya'.