cucumber
Syllables: cu·cum·verUK/ˈkjuːˌkʌmbə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/ˈkjuːˌkʊmbə/
cucumber noun: a vine in the gourd family, Cucumis sativus.
Noun
cucumber (countable and uncountable, plural cucumbers)
- A vine in the gourd family, Cucumis sativus.
- ASPARAGUS, cauliflowers, imperial Sileſia, royal and cabbage lettuces, burnet, purſlain, cucumbers, naſturtian flowers, peaſe and beans ſown in October, artichokes, ſcarlet ſtrawberries, and kidney beans.1767, A Lady [Hannah Glasse], The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Eaſy […] , page 326
- The edible fruit of this plant, having a green rind and crisp white flesh.
- […]for it has been a common ſaying of phyſicians in England, that a cucumber ſhould be well ſliced, and dreſſed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.1785, James Boswell, quoting Samuel Johnson, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnſon […] , London: Henry Baldwin, page 356
- "Why, pepper and salt your reasons!" cried Curl, forgetting to look at the door for a moment: "your pamphlet has talent; but talent is like a cucumber, nothing without the dressing. You must be more personal."1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Publishing”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 14
- A person who is calm and self-possessed.
- The guy's a real cucumber.1999, Mark Grantham, The Brewery, page 275
- That Wolf is one cool cucumber.2002, Margaret Fisher, Putting on Mock Trials, page 29
cucumber meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
cucumber in Hindi
- plant
- खीरा khīrā, ककड़ी kakṛī, त्रपुस trapus
- edible fruit
- ककड़ी kakṛī, खीरा khīrā, त्रपुस trapus
cucumber in Tamil
- plant
- வெள்ளரி veḷḷari
- edible fruit
- வெள்ளரிக்காய் veḷḷarikkāy
cucumber in Marathi
- plant
- काकडी kākḍī
- edible fruit
- काकडी kākḍī
cucumber in Urdu
- edible fruit
- کَکْڑی kakṛī, کِھیرا khīrā
More languagesFewer languages
- cucumber in Bengali
- শসা śośa
- cucumber in Telugu
- దోస dōsa, దోసకాయ dōsakāya
- cucumber in Malayalam
- വെള്ളരി veḷḷari, വെള്ളരിക്ക veḷḷarikka
- cucumber in Kannada
- ಸೌತೆಬಳ್ಳಿ sautebaḷḷi, ಸವುತೆ savute, ಸೌತೆಕಾಯಿ sautekāyi
- cucumber in Punjabi
- ਖੀਰਾ khīrā, کھِیرا khīrā
- cucumber in Gujarati
- કાકડી kākḍī
- cucumber in Sanskrit
- कर्कटिका karkaṭikā
- cucumber in Sinhala
- පිපිඤ්ඤ pipiñña
- cucumber in Assamese
- তিয়ঁহ tiõh
- cucumber in Nepali
- ककडी
- cucumber in Pashto
- بادرنګ
- cucumber in Tagalog
- pipino
- cucumber in Arabic
- خِيَار ḵiyār
- cucumber in Malay
- timun
- cucumber in Indonesian
- mentimun, timun, ketimun
- cucumber in Thai
- แตงกวา dtɛɛng-gwaa
- cucumber in Vietnamese
- dưa chuột, dưa leo
- cucumber in Myanmar
- သခွား sa.hkwa:
Examples of cucumber in a sentence
- Probably on account of its phallic formation, the cucumber is often assumed to have aphrodisiac qualities.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 71:
- To the bowl, add cucumber, cabbage and carrot.2025 March 12, David Tanis, “Cucumber-Cabbage Salad With Sesame”, in New York Times Cooking, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company...
Synonyms of cucumber
Forms of cucumber
| plural | cucumbers |
|---|---|
| alternative form (colloquial) | cuke |
| alternative form (colloquial) | cumber |
| alternative form (obsolete) | cowcumber |
Origin of cucumber
From Middle English cucumer, cucumber, from Old French cocombre, ultimately from Latin cucumis, cucumerem (possibly through an Old Occitan intermediate). Probably of Pre-Italic substrate origin. First attested in the late 14c. Displaced native English earthapple (see which for more), which has since acquired other senses.
Words formed from cucumber
- cucumber herring
- cucumberish
- cucumberless
- cucumberlike
- cucumber mullet
- cucumbery
- aardvark cucumber
- Armenian cucumber
- banded cucumber beetle
- bitter cucumber
- burr cucumber
- calm as a cucumber
- cool as a cucumber
- devil's cucumber
- exploding cucumber
- gemsbok cucumber
- lemon cucumber
- maroon cucumber
- musk cucumber
- sea cucumber
- serpent cucumber
- slicing cucumber
- smacked cucumber
- snake cucumber
- spotted cucumber beetle
- squirting cucumber
- star cucumber
- striped cucumber beetle
- stuffing cucumber
- telegraph cucumber
- wild cucumber
- yard-long cucumber
- zombie's cucumber
- cucumberade
- cucumber beetle
- cucumber fish
- cucumberfish
- cucumberita
- cucumber mosaic virus
- cucumber time
- cucumbertini
- cucumber tree
- Qcumber
Phrases with cucumber
Questions about cucumber
- What does cucumber mean?
- Cucumber means a vine in the gourd family, Cucumis sativus.
- What is cucumber in Hindi?
- Cucumber in Hindi is खीरा (khīrā), ककड़ी (kakṛī), त्रपुस (trapus). See Cucumber meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use cucumber in a sentence?
- Probably on account of its phallic formation, the cucumber is often assumed to have aphrodisiac qualities.
- What part of speech is cucumber?
- Cucumber is a noun.
- How do you pronounce cucumber?
- Cucumber is pronounced /ˈkjuːˌkʌmbə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cucumber?
- The plural of cucumber is cucumbers.
Words near cucumber in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cucumber (page history and authors); कर्कटिका (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); cucumber (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); بادرنګ (Pashto) (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-us-cucumber.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cucumber.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cucumber. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.