Word.ws English Dictionary

watermelon

Syllables: wa·ter·mel·onUK/ˈwɔːtəˌmɛlən//ˈwɑtəɹˌmɛlən/

watermelon noun: a plant of the species Citrullus lanatus, bearing a melon-like fruit.

watermelon: a plant of the species Citrullus lanatus, bearing a melon-like fruit
Image: Kumon, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

watermelon (countable and uncountable, plural watermelons)

  1. A plant of the species Citrullus lanatus, bearing a melon-like fruit.
  2. The fruit of the watermelon plant, having a green rind and watery flesh that is typically bright red when ripe and contains black seeds.
  3. (derogatory, slang) An environmentalist with socialist leanings, an ecosocialist.
    • According to this distorted view of life, environmentalists are watermelons – green on the outside, red on the inside – who want to impose regulation, “the slippery slope to socialism”, on the use of tobacco, ozone-destroying chemicals and greenhouse gases.2010 August 7, Robin McKie, “Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M Conway”, in The Observer, →ISSN
  4. A pinkish-red colour, like that of watermelon flesh (also called watermelon pink).
  5. A project that is presented as on schedule when it actually has parts that are falling behind.
    • The nuts and bolts of any project are transparency. If the project status is transparent, the watermelons can’t arise. If anybody is able to get the information, it will be difficult to hide something.2011 August 8, Marc Löffler, “Watermelon Reporting”, in DZone, AnswerHub
    • As a PMO [project management officer], wherever I see watermelon reporting, I encourage the PM [project manager] to be brave and honest enough to ask for help.2015 September 17, Ken Burrell, “Watch out for watermelons in project reports”, in LinkedIn
  6. (colloquial, slang) A breast, especially that of an adult or adolescent female human.

watermelon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

watermelon in Hindi

fruit
तरबूज़ tarbūz
plant
तरबूज़ tarbūz

watermelon in Tamil

fruit
தர்பூசணி tarpūcaṇi
plant
தர்பூசணி tarpūcaṇi

watermelon in Marathi

fruit
कलिंगड kaliṅgaḍ
plant
कलिंगड kaliṅgaḍ

watermelon in Urdu

fruit
تربوز tarbūz
plant
تربوز tarbūz
More languagesFewer languages
watermelon in Bengali
তরমুজ toromuj
watermelon in Telugu
పుచ్చకాయ puccakāya
watermelon in Malayalam
തണ്ണിമത്തൻ taṇṇimattaṉ
watermelon in Kannada
ಕಲ್ಲಂಗಡಿ kallaṅgaḍi
watermelon in Punjabi
ਹਦਵਾਣਾ hadvāṇā, ਤਰਬੂਜ tarbūj, ਮਤੀਰਾ matīrā
watermelon in Gujarati
તરબૂચ tarbūc, કલિંગર kaliṅgar
watermelon in Odia
ତରଭୁଜ tarabhuja
watermelon in Sanskrit
कालिन्द kālinda, तरम्बुज tarambuja
watermelon in Sinhala
දිය කොමඩු diya komaḍu
watermelon in Assamese
তৰমুজ tormuz, তৰমুজ গছ toromuz gos
watermelon in Pashto
هندواڼه
watermelon in Tagalog
pakwan
watermelon in Arabic
بَطِّيخ baṭṭīḵ, بَطِّيخَة baṭṭīḵa, دَلَّاع dallāʕ, سندية sindiyya
watermelon in Malay
tembikai, semangka, mendikai, menikai
watermelon in Indonesian
semangka
watermelon in Persian
هندوانه hendevâne, تربز tarboz, خربز xarboz, خربزه xarboze
watermelon in Thai
แตงโม dtɛɛng-moo
watermelon in Vietnamese
dưa hấu
watermelon in Myanmar
ဖရဲ hpa.rai:
Sindhi
छांहीं chā̃hī̃, हिंदाणो hindāṇo

Examples of watermelon in a sentence

  • In his zany prop comedy Gallagher would sometimes smash watermelons and splatter the front rows of the audience.
  • Let's go halves on this big watermelon.
  • Seeds are rife in a watermelon.

All 26 example sentences with watermelon

Synonyms of watermelon

Forms of watermelon

pluralwatermelons

Plural of watermelon: watermelons

Origin of watermelon

Endocentric compound of water + melon. Compare French melon d'eau, German Wassermelone, and Spanish melón de agua. The meanings referring to environmentalists and behind-schedule projects derive from the idea of having a green (eco-friendly, on-schedule) outward appearance while being red (socialist, behind schedule) in a hidden way comparable to that of the fruit.

Words formed from watermelon

Phrases with watermelon

Questions about watermelon

What does watermelon mean?
Watermelon means a plant of the species Citrullus lanatus, bearing a melon-like fruit.
What is watermelon in Hindi?
Watermelon in Hindi is तरबूज़ (tarbūz). See Watermelon meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is watermelon?
Watermelon is a noun.
How do you pronounce watermelon?
Watermelon is pronounced /ˈwɔːtəˌmɛlən/ (UK).
What is the plural of watermelon?
The plural of watermelon is watermelons.

Words near watermelon in the dictionary

  1. watermeadow
  2. watermeadows
  3. watermeal
  4. watermeals
  5. watermedia
  6. watermelon
  7. watermelon beetle
  8. watermelon beetles
  9. watermelon cap
  10. watermelon caps
  11. watermelon felon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: watermelon (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-watermelon.ogg.

Cite this entry: “watermelon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/watermelon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.