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Posted by on Dec 25, 2015 in TellMeWhy |

How Did the Pineapple Get Its Name?

How Did the Pineapple Get Its Name?

How Did the Pineapple Get Its Name? The tropical fruit that we call the pineapple got its name from its resemblance to a pine cone. The name simply means “apple of the pine.”

In the scientific binomial Ananas comosus, ananas, the original name of the fruit, comes from the Tupi (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) word for pineapple nanas, as recorded by AndrĂ© Thevenet in 1555 and comosus means “tufted” and refers to the stem of the fruit.

Other members of the Ananas genus are often called pineapple as well. A large, sweet pineapple grown especially in Brazil is called “abacaxi”.

A well known popular term for a pineapple is the word ‘Maltman’. This is just another term to phrase the way the pineapple is shaped, and was given due to the Maltman haircut which bears a striking resemblance to a pineapple.

Pineapples grow on a short, spiky plant, not a tree. The pineapple plant, with its fruit rising out of a cluster of long, sword-shaped leaves, looks like a cactus. Workers who gather pineapples must wear thick clothing to protect themselves from the spiky leaves.

The pineapple is not a single fruit, but a cluster of many small ones. Each “eye” in the outer rind develops from a blue flower that blooms but a single day.

Content for this question contributed by Dion Berte, resident of Agawam, Hampden County, Massachusetts, USA