means A large, round, juicy fruit with a thick rind and sweet watery flesh, such as a watermelon or cantaloupe.

from From Latin melo, itself a shortening of melopepo, which the Romans borrowed from Greek melopepon — literally 'apple-gourd,' stitching together melon ('apple,' a catch-all for round fruit) and pepon ('ripe,' as in a gourd softened by the sun). It rolled through Old French as melon before settling into English.