Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various tropical American shrubs and trees of the genus Psidium, especially P. guajava, widely cultivated for its edible fruit, having greenish skin and sweet white or pink flesh.
  • noun The fruit of this plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of several species of Psidium, a myrtaceous genus of tropical America, and especially P. Guayava, which yields a well-known and esteemed fruit, and is now cultivated and naturalized in most tropical countries.
  • noun In Porto Rico, Inga vera, a tree of the family Mimosaceæ, used as a shade-tree in coffee-plantations. See Inga and coco-wood. 2.
  • noun In Barbados, the ringworm-shrub, Herpetica alata.

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

  • noun A tropical tree, or its fruit, of the genus Psidium. Two varieties are well known, the P. pyriferum, or white guava, and P. pomiferum, or red guava. The fruit or berry is shaped like a pomegranate, but is much smaller. It is somewhat astringent, but makes a delicious jelly.

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

  • noun A tropical tree or shrub of the myrtle family, Psidium guajava.
  • noun Its yellowish tropical fruit, 1¼ to 2 inches, globular or pear-shaped with thin, yellow, green or brown skin, is often made into jams and jellies. The meat is yellowish or pale green to pink in color.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun small tropical American shrubby tree; widely cultivated in warm regions for its sweet globular yellow fruit
  • noun tropical fruit having yellow skin and pink pulp; eaten fresh or used for e.g. jellies
  • noun small tropical shrubby tree bearing small yellowish fruit

Etymologies

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

[Spanish guayaba, perhaps of Arawakan origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Recorded since 1555, from Spanish guaya, a variant of guayaba, from Arawak guayabo ("guava tree").

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