Before it acquired its current name in the early seventeenth century, the watermelon was known as citrul or pasteque. The older of these words was citrul, which originated in the fourteenth century and did not fade into oblivion until the mid eighteenth century; it derived, through French and Italian, from the Latin citrus, the connection being that the watermelon has a lime-coloured skin. Pasteque, on the other hand, originated in the late sixteenth century and was still in use in the nineteenth; it derived, through French, from the Arabic name for this watery fruit, bittikha.
The substantial, curvaceous or elliptical yield of a vine that is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, boasting an exterior layer that can come in a plain hue of either a somber, murky green or a lighter shade of green, or can be adorned with green stripes, and an interior comprising a sanguineous, succulent flesh that is imbued with sweetness and wateriness. The flesh is typically consumed fresh and maintained in a chilled state, while the exterior layer may be brined or subjected to a confectionery process.