Why are pineapples called “pineapples”?

Guess you can find the resemblance between pine cones and pine apples? Well with the two pictures above, the resemblance is pretty obvious. In the late 14th century, the Spanish explorers that found the pineapples clearly saw the resemblance. It looks like a very very large pine cone but it is a fruit. Apple seemed to be the generic fruit at the time (even potatoes are called earth-apples in many languages – as in “pomme-de-terre” in french) and so the name pineapple seemed the most appropriate.

Biologists call the fruit Ananas Comosus which is derived from the name “nanas” that was the name the brazilians gave to the fruit and “comosus” which means tufted, presumably by the stem of the fruit!