Etymologically
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pineapple

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpaɪnˌæpəl/[1]
  • US: /ˈpaɪnəpəl/, /ˌpaɪnˈæpəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pinappel (“pine cone”),[2][3][4] a compound of pine (“pine tree”) and appel (“apple, fruit”).[2][5][6][3] The word for the tree came into Old English from Latin pīnus (“pine tree”).[7][3] The same compound for the cone is found in other languages: Medieval Latin pomum pini, Old French pume de pin (now pomme de pin), Middle Dutch pijnappel, Middle Low German pinappel and Old High German pīnapful.[5] For the pine cone Old English also had pinhnyte (“pine nut”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pine tree, or pine trees collectively: about 1390, in the Pistel of Swete Susan.[5] The sense "pine cone" is recorded from before 1398, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus,[5][2] and a late 14th-century Bible translation used it for the pomegranate, rendering Latin malum punicum.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The name passed to the tropical fruit because its shape and segmented skin looked like a pine cone;[7][8][9] the OED's first record of the fruit is in John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia (1624),[5] while Etymonline dates it to the 1660s.[6] The word pine cone appeared in the 1690s and replaced pineapple in its first sense, which now survives only in regional English.[6][5] An ornament in the shape of a pine cone, later of a pineapple, is recorded from 1448.[5][4] In the First World War soldiers called a hand grenade a pineapple from its shape;[10][5][9] British slang on the pineapple, on the dole (1937), was a pun on the Dole Food Company, and Australians say to get the rough end of the pineapple for getting a raw deal (1961).[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1390 – a pine tree (obsolete by 1599).[5]
  • before 1398 – a pine cone.[5][2]
  • 1448 – an ornament shaped like a pine cone.[5]
  • 1560 – a pine nut (obsolete by 1592).[5]
  • 1624 – the tropical fruit.[5]
  • 1796 – the pineapple strawberry.[5]
  • 1916 – slang, a hand grenade.[10]
  • 1937 – British slang, the dole.[5]
  • 1961 – Australian, the wrong end of the pineapple.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The large juicy fruit of a tropical American plant, with yellow flesh, a tough segmented skin and a tuft of stiff leaves on top.[9][4][5]
  2. The plant that bears it, Ananas comosus, a bromeliad with spiny leaves.[9][4]
  3. An ornament, such as a finial on furniture, shaped like a pine cone or a pineapple.[4][5]
  4. (slang) A hand grenade or small bomb.[9][10][5]
  5. (regional) A pine cone.[5][11]

Word family

  • pine nut

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press