pineapple [LME] The Latin pinus ‘pine tree’ had given the word for a pine tree to Old English, and originally a pine apple was the fruit of the pine tree, what we would now call a pine-cone. When the pineapple fruit was introduced in the early 17th century the overall shape and the segmented skin was felt to resemble a pine-cone and the name was transferred to it. See also grenade, pain.