Pine cones, apples and pineapples

In Late Middle English pineapple denoted a pine cone. For example in the 13th century De Proprietatibus Rerum of Bartholomeus Anglicus:  "Pynea, þe pynappel, is þe fruyt of þe pyne tree... The pyneappel is most grete notte and conteyneþ in it self in stede of fruyt many curnelles".

The word was subsequently applied to the newly discovered tropical fruit in the mid 17th century, because of its resemblance to a pine cone.