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Pineapples and Coconuts

◆ How did the names “pineapple” and “coconut” come about? Wilfred Funk in his book Word Origins and Their Romantic Stories answers:

“Our tropical fruit, the pineapple, came to England rather late. . . . The name pineapple simply meant ‘apple of the pine’ since it looked so much like a pine cone. The coconut . . . has a bit of a smile in it. If you look at the three holes at the bottom, you will see that they resemble a human face. In Spanish and Portuguese the word coco means a grimace or a grimacing face. So a coconut is really a funny-face nut.”