pineapple
ˈpaɪnˌæp.əl
noun
Origin
Old English
pine + æppel — pine cone
Overview
Meaning Now
- A large tropical fruit with a rough, segmented, prickly skin, yellow flesh, and a terminal tuft of spiky leaves.
- The plant (Ananas comosus) that produces this fruit.
Literal older meaning
An apple made of or resembling a pine cone.
Language path
Old English → Middle English → English
Earliest form
pyneappel
Earliest period
14th century
Journey
Before the 17th century, the word 'pineapple' referred exclusively to the cones of coniferous trees. When European explorers encountered the tropical fruit in the Americas, its scaly, cone-like appearance led them to apply the existing name 'pineapple' to it.
Evolution
- Old English
pīnæppel
“pine cone”
Literally 'pine apple'; used to describe the fruit of a pine tree.
- Middle English
pyne-appel
“pine cone”
- 17th Century
pineapple
“tropical fruit”
Applied to the tropical fruit because of its external similarity to the pine cone.
Connections
Word parts
pine
root
referring to the pine tree
apple
root
a general term formerly used for many types of fruit
Related across languages
Old Saxon
pīn-appel
pine cone
Related words
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Related to pineapple
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.