pineapple

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large sweet tropical fruit with rough brown skin, juicy yellow flesh, and stiff leaves on top.

   She cut a fresh pineapple into thin yellow slices.

2. 2
   noun

   The tropical plant that produces this fruit.

   Pineapple grows well in hot, sunny climates.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Pineapple originally meant the fruit of a pine tree, now called a pine cone; Old English pine came from Latin pinus, “pine tree.” When the pineapple fruit was introduced in the early 17th century, its overall shape and segmented skin were thought to resemble a pine cone, so the existing name was transferred to it.

From Middle English pinappel (“pinecone”, literally “pine-apple/pine-fruit”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīnapplu. Later applied to the fruit of the pineapple plant due to its resemblance to a pinecone. Compare the Middle Dutch and Dutch pijnappel (“pinecone", formerly also "pineapple”), Afrikaans pynappel (“pineapple”), Middle Low German pinappel, Old High German pīnapful, Middle High German pīnaphel, and early Modern German pinapfel — all in the sense of “pine cone”. Compare also the post-Classical Latin pomum pini, the Old French pume de pin, the Middle French and French pomme de pin and Spa…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary