noun
pineapple
PYN-a-puhl
noun
1
A large tropical fruit with spiky skin, sweet yellow flesh, and a crown of stiff leaves.
"She sliced a fresh pineapple for the fruit salad."
"The cocktail was garnished with a wedge of pineapple."
2
Slang for a hand grenade, because of its ridged, oval shape.
"The soldier pulled the pin on the pineapple and threw it."
How to Use Pineapple
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe spiky yellow tropical fruit — or, in slang, a grenade shaped like it.
Common mistake
A pineapple is not related botanically to pine trees at all — the name is purely about shape.
Common pairings
pineapple juice
pineapple upside-down cake
fresh pineapple
Word Forms
pineapples plural
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She sliced a fresh _____ for the fruit salad.
Etymology
Originally meant "pine cone" in Middle English (pine + apple, "apple" once meaning any fruit); the name was transferred to the tropical fruit because of its resemblance to a large pine cone.