Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A tropical American perennial vine (Sechium edule) having tuberous roots and cultivated for its green, pear-shaped fruit.
  • noun The fruit of this plant, eaten as a vegetable.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • a tropical West Indian vine (Sechium edule) of the gourd family, which bears small white flowers and produces an edible fruit.
  • the edible fruit of the chayote{1} vine, having a pear shape with a furrowed skin, and usually green or white. It is also called choyote, christophene, mirliton, and vegetable pear

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Sechium edule, a tropical American perennial herbaceous vine having tendrils, tuberous roots, and a green, pear-shaped fruit cooked as a vegetable.
  • noun The fruit of this plant.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, from Nahuatl chayohtli.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish chayote, from Classical Nahuatl chayohtli.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Made this tonight. Not a fan.

    January 29, 2010

  • Do tell!

    January 29, 2010

  • I dunno, maybe it was the recipe. I was intrigued with the shape and color of this vegetable when I saw it in a Latin market. I sliced it, like a pear, and sautéd it in olive oil with garlic, red pepper, salt, sugar and vinegar. The texture was crispy -- but like almost-raw potato crispy and the spiciness didn't seem to go with it at all... kinda yucky all the way around. I'm thinking that a purée will be the best bet for this little green gourd.

    January 29, 2010