Other forms: watermelons
A watermelon is a very big green fruit that is red and juicy inside. A slice of watermelon, seedless watermelon, cold watermelon.
It is about ninety per cent water, which is where the name comes from, and it was carried across deserts in Africa as a source of drinkable liquid. Seedless ones are not genetically modified — they are sterile hybrids, like a mule.
1nounwatermelonA large green fruit with sweet red flesh.
“On hot summer days, we eat cold slices of watermelon in the garden.”
watermelon is a fruit.
Water plus melon, from the fruit's high water content. Other languages name it the same way.
From water + melon. 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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA