How to use pawpaw in a sentence

10 example sentences · noun

Pawpaw means any member of the genus Asimina of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba). Example: “Throughout the years it's gone by a lot of names—frost banana, Indiana banana, fetid-bush, bandango, custard apple, prairie banana, poor man's banana—but most of the time it's just been called pawpaw.”

Examples of pawpaw by meaning

nounAny member of the genus Asimina of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina...

Throughout the years it's gone by a lot of names—frost banana, Indiana banana, fetid-bush, bandango, custard apple, prairie banana, poor man's banana—but most of the time it's just been called pawpaw.[2015, Andrew Moore, Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, Chelsea Green Publishing, →ISBN, page 1
If there were such a thing as an anticapitalist fruit, the pawpaw, commonly foraged in the wild and inherently resistant to commodification, might qualify.2023 September 29, Molly Fitzpatrick, “He’s the Pawpaw King of Brooklyn. (What’s a Pawpaw?)”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

nounMountain pawpaw (Vasconcellea pubescens), a fruit tree native to South America.

Xavier sliced the pawpaw in half, emptying the tiny black seeds over the veranda wall.2021, Leone Ross, This One Sky Day, Faber & Faber Limited, page 254

More sentences with pawpaw

If you’ve ever sampled an American custard apple, a prairie banana or a hillbilly mango, then you’ve eaten a pawpaw.2023 September 29, Molly Fitzpatrick, “He’s the Pawpaw King of Brooklyn. (What’s a Pawpaw?)”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry custard apple
At this annual Albany festival visitors can enjoy treats from the pawpaw fruit, including “prairie banana” ice cream.2015, Gabrielle Balkan, The 50 States: Explore the U.S.A. with 50 fact-filled maps!, Wide Eyed Editions, →ISBN, page 72. From the entry prairie banana
There's cherry bark tea, black strap molasses, sassafras, pawpaw, a pinch of sulfur, an' a little tetch of turpentine in it.2012, Eulie Rier Cienfuegos, At Tildy's Thrift, WestBow Press, →ISBN, page 85. From the entry us'uns
While Giles had money to waste upon gambling marbles, thanks to his three acres of limes, pawpaw, star apples and melon.2010, Andrea Levy, The Long Song, Tinder Press (2017), page 302. From the entry star apple
Pawpaw contains an enzyme papain which breaks down protein and is said to help clear mucus and excess saliva excretions.1993, Janet Martin, Jane Backhouse, Good looking, easy swallowing. From the entry thickshake
Of the asiminas, or so-called pawpaws, — which are also anonaceous plants, — there are several species in the United States.1911, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Sketch of the evolution of our native fruits, page 443. From the entry asimina
For a plant whose preferred growing region is the temperate zone of North America, the pawpaw is an uncannily exotic-tasting delicacy, a far-flung cousin of the tropical soursop, or guanábana.2023 September 29, Molly Fitzpatrick, “He’s the Pawpaw King of Brooklyn. (What’s a Pawpaw?)”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry soursop

Meaning of pawpaw

noun Any member of the genus Asimina of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba).
noun Papaya (Carica papaya), a widely cultivated tropical fruit tree.
noun Mountain pawpaw (Vasconcellea pubescens), a fruit tree native to South America.

Full definition of pawpaw

Questions about pawpaw in a sentence

How do you use pawpaw in a sentence?: Pawpaw is used as a noun. For example: “Throughout the years it's gone by a lot of names—frost banana, Indiana banana, fetid-bush, bandango, custard apple, prairie banana, poor man's banana—but most of the time it's just been called pawpaw.”
What is a short sentence with pawpaw?: “Xavier sliced the pawpaw in half, emptying the tiny black seeds over the veranda wall.”
What does pawpaw mean?: Pawpaw means any member of the genus Asimina of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba).

Adapted from Wiktionary: pawpaw (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use pawpaw in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pawpaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.