bitter melon
/ˈbɪtəɹ ˈmɛlən/
bitter melon noun: a vine, Momordica charantia, which produces a bitter yet edible fruit.
Noun
bitter melon (plural bitter melons)
- A vine, Momordica charantia, which produces a bitter yet edible fruit.
- Bees often convey the pollen from the blossoms of a bitter melon vine to those of a sweet variety and completely change the character and flavor of its fruit.1896, The World and Its People, Book 7, Silver, Burdett, page 430
- The fruit of the bitter melon vine.
- Synonyms:
- balsam pear, bitter gourd, karela, cerasee
- The colocynth, Citrullus colocynthis.
- A similar fruit-bearing vine, Citrullus lanatus (Citroides Group).
bitter melon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
bitter melon in Hindi
- plant Momordica charantia
- करेला karelā
- fruit of Momordica charantia
- करेला karelā
bitter melon in Tamil
- plant Momordica charantia
- பாகற்காய் pākaṟkāy
- fruit of Momordica charantia
- பாகற்காய் pākaṟkāy
bitter melon in Marathi
- fruit of Momordica charantia
- कारली kārlī
bitter melon in Urdu
- fruit of Momordica charantia
- کریلا karelā
More languagesFewer languages
- bitter melon in Bengali
- করলা korla, উচ্ছা uccha, উচ্ছে ucche
- bitter melon in Telugu
- కాకర kākara, కాకరకాయ kākarakāya
- bitter melon in Malayalam
- പാവൽ pāval, പാവയ്ക്ക pāvaykka, കയ്പക്ക kaypakka
- bitter melon in Kannada
- ಹಾಗಲಕಾಯಿ hāgalakāyi
- bitter melon in Punjabi
- ਕਰੇਲਾ karelā
- bitter melon in Gujarati
- કારેલું kārelũ
- bitter melon in Sanskrit
- कारवेल्ल kāravella
- bitter melon in Assamese
- কেৰেলা kerela
- bitter melon in Tagalog
- ampalaya
- bitter melon in Arabic
- قَاوُون qāwūn
- bitter melon in Malay
- tembikai pahit, peria
- bitter melon in Indonesian
- pare, paria
- bitter melon in Thai
- มะระ má-rá
- bitter melon in Vietnamese
- khổ qua, mướp đắng
- bitter melon in Myanmar
- ကြက်ဟင်းခါးပင် krakhang:hka:pang, ကြက်ဟင်းခါးသီး krakhang:hka:si:
- Kashmiri
- کَریلہٕ karēlụ
Synonyms of bitter melon
Forms of bitter melon
| plural | bitter melons |
|---|---|
| alternative form | bittermelon |
Origin of bitter melon
Calque from Chinese 苦瓜 (kǔguā).
Questions about bitter melon
- What does bitter melon mean?
- Bitter melon means a vine, Momordica charantia, which produces a bitter yet edible fruit.
- What is bitter melon in Hindi?
- Bitter melon in Hindi is करेला (karelā). See Bitter melon meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is bitter melon?
- Bitter melon is a noun.
- How do you pronounce bitter melon?
- Bitter melon is pronounced /ˈbɪtəɹ ˈmɛlən/.
- What is the plural of bitter melon?
- The plural of bitter melon is bitter melons.
Words near bitter melon in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bitter melon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-AU ck1 bitter melon.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bitter melon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bitter_melon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.