You’ve probably seen some of those memes about ananas (or something very close to it) and how in seemingly every language but English it is the name for a delicious yellow fruit that causes controversy in the pizza world. That’s right! I’m talking about pineapple!
If you haven’t seen those memes, here’s an example.
So why do we call it “pineapple”? Are we just trying to be different or cool? Or is there a more interesting story here?
The English word "pineapple" appeared sometime in the early 1600s. It comes to us from European invaders who fell in love with this fruit in the Americas and then took some back home with them. How could they not take such an amazing fruit home!
It seems English speakers had a short romance with the word “ananas” until the 1800s. In the end though, everyone started to call it "pineapple" because it reminded them of a pine cone. “Apple” was added to “pine” because, well, apples are fruit!
The word “ananas” itself comes from Old Tupi, a language spoken by the Tupi people of Brazil.
Fun Fact! A pineapple isn’t a single fruit. It’s a group of berries that have fused together. In English, we call this kind of fruit a “multiple fruit” or a “collective fruit”. See how it grows!