What The Names of Fruits & Vegetables Mean

In this video, we take a look at the origins behind the names of a number of fruits, vegetables, and other crops, and discover what they really mean.
Find us here too!
Patreon: www.Patreon.com/Fireoflearning
Lucinox - Our Science Channel: kzbin.info/door/M2dfLR3BR0CHuePEDtxAZw
The following music performed by Kevin Macleod Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Download available at incompetech.com
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G, Movement I (Allegro), BWV 1049 [orig. by JS Bach]
Sources and further reading/vieweing
[1] www.etymonline.com/
[2] Wikipedia.org
[3] Wiktionary.org
[4] Britannica.com
[5] dle.rae.es/patata
[6] Darrow, George M. "The Strawberry: History, Breeding, & Physiology." New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. archive.org/details/strawberryhistor00darr
[7] kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJ_CZGupjst0lcU
[8] kzbin.info/www/bejne/aF7Ke5emeNGehLc
[9] kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3izpZileLCZjdE
[10] kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3icgJZsid13jrc
[11] kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmSQpn6dnt54abs
[12] Binkowski, Brooke. "Does the Word 'Guacamole' Mean 'Testicle Sauce'?" Snopes.com, Snopes Media Group, 8 February, 2016. www.snopes.com/fact-check/guacamole-means-testicle-sauce/
Picture attributions
By tree-species - Coconut face, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50267621
By © Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3886230
By Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81224187
By Salil Kumar Mukherjee - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115462116
By DelwarHossain - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=96930340
By Martin Burns from Bathgate, Scotland - Spices, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16476233
By Kovsh1234 - Own work, CC BY 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=104172471
By The.Rohit - Elusive KiwiUploaded by Snowmanradio, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10708202
By TUBS - This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file:, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15946678
By Horticulturalist RJ - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48026339
By Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=134306341
By Mokkie - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33944835
By Ivar Leidus - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98723321
By Ivar Leidus - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109143856
By Llez - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10483011
By Michaela Weingartova - Sweet potatoes, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43751601
By Akshay - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38031475
By Thamizhpparithi Maari - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18454217
By Glyn Baker, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13067775
By Ivar Leidus - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27022271
By Syrio - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91755277
By Archibale Isolation - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40739837
By Dinesh Valke from Thane, India - Fragaria x ananassa, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51599987

[@TheDarthbinky]

In French and some German dialects (primarily the southern ones like Austrian and Bavarian), "potatoes" are called "earth apples" ("pomme de tierre" or "erdapfel", respectively). In other German dialects, including the standard "high German" used in TV, Radio, etc... it's called "Kartoffel", which long story short basically derives from the Italian word for "truffle". In both cases it's because potatoes somewhat resemble those other things. Or at least they resemble them enough that people called them those things. Lastly, in most German-speaking places, "French fries" (or "chips" for our British friends) are typically called "pommes frites" or simply "pommes", after the French term. Just some additional fun facts for everybody.

[@PeterMartyrVermigli_is_cool]

And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. -Jeremiah 29:13 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. -John 3:16 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. - Acts 3:19

[@mitch8072]

same in Dutch language we cal them earth apples

[@Prodigious1One]

Maybe you mean, "pommes de terre", no 'i'. Also the short form in French, is normally "frites", not "pommes", because pomme is apple.

[@DogFoxHybrid]

Russian also uses the German word for potato, "kartofel" ("картофель" ), more commonly informally called "kartoshka" ("картошка").

[@basicallydisabledveteranma9223]

In Mandarin they are 土豆, which means earth/dirt bean

[@Vingul]

09:34 in the other Germanic languages that I know the word for strawberry, the name means "earth-berry", as in Norwegian "jordbær" and German "erdbeere"... well, except for the Swedish "jordgubbe", which I can only interpret as meaning "earth-bloke" or "earth-geezer". Don't ask me what they were thinking.

[@Fireoflearning]

It seems the Anglo-Saxons called them "earthberries" alongside "strawberries", but that the latter won out

[@Vingul]

​@@Fireoflearning interesting! In Norwegian we go all out when it comes to wild strawberries btw, we call them "markjordbær", basically "soil-earth-berries". Compare with Knut Hamsun's work "Markens grøde", "Growth of the Soil". Though "mark" can also refer to a forest or other wild area. The Swedes call wild strawberries "smultron", as in the Ingmar Bergman film Wild Strawberries -- actually "Smultronstället", "The Wild Strawberry Place". Pardon the perhaps overly convoluted comment / unnecessary references.

[@ryanquon1608]

The word for strawberry is much the same in Mandarin, roughly translating into English as "grass-berry"

[@Fireoflearning]

@ryanquon1608 Interesting, they must've adopted a rough translation of the English term

[@absurdum-the-artist]

The name for wild strawberries is Russian is земляника, which also translates to earth-berry!

[@Numba003]

Man, rosemary and oregano have some stunningly beautiful name origins. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Plus I love the dry humor lol. Thank you for another excellent video. God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

[@md2perpe]

In Swedish, 'korn' means grain, but is also the word used nowadays for barley. We use the word 'majs' for maize/corn, and the corn kernels are called 'majskorn' (maize grains).

[@tenebritrix]

Fun fact: spanish calls lavender lavanda, which is the direct latin participle (idk if i got that right) of washing, meaning something that's meant to wash. In the same way, Amanda means the one who's meant to be loved

[@sofiag.m3803]

Hi, spanish speaker here ✋🏼 wish it was true but sadly it's not, "lavada" means "washed"... "LavaNda" might be similar but it's not the same meaning, it strictly refers to the plant

[@tenebritrix]

@@sofiag.m3803 the ethimology of lavanda, the word in spanish for lavender, comes from the latin participle (which is a form of conjugation for verbs) lavanda, same thing that happened to agenda, over time they became the word for a specific object. Lavada is an adjetive, not a verb, but both lavada and lavanda share the same origin, lavare, so I get why you found this confusing!

[@jorge69696]

In Venezuelan Spanish, Batata is used for sweet potatoes and Papa (different from Papá which means dad) is used for normal potatoes. Nice to see the original words survived this long.

[@scipio109]

In the Canary Islands we also use Papa for potatoes

[@maximipe]

Same in Argentina, also nice to point out the tilde a lot of foreigners completely ignore those

[@trufflefur]

In Perú sweet potatos are known as "camote"

[@johnnyearp52]

Same in New Mexican Spanish. Papa/s also means food in general. "Quieras papas?" (Do you want food?)

[@johnnyearp52]

Or Do you want to eat?

[@afrikasmith1049]

I never really thought about avocados looking like testicles until now. And now I'm imagining the Aztecs making a lot of jokes using avocados.

[@johnnyearp52]

Were avocados smaller back then?

[@Carrot-Man1876]

Greetings from the Carrot-Man 👋🥕

[@PeterMartyrVermigli_is_cool]

And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. -Jeremiah 29:13 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. -John 3:16 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. -Acts 3:19 :)

[@lococomrade3488]

​@@PeterMartyrVermigli_is_cool Stop spamming comments with Bronze Age fairy tales.

[@GotTheBestLigma]

Sup carrot man ✌️

[@OrthoKarter]

@@lococomrade3488Shut up. Let him Preach.

[@lococomrade3488]

@Holdenos Nope. Science forever. Death to Superstitious Bullshit. Jesus is just as valid as Zeus or Krishna or Big Bird. It's fictional lies. Yall live in the Digital Age. Catch up.

[@_Ben___]

Yams are something else completely different here in New Zealand. Sweet potatoes are called kumara and yams are small tubers from South America known as oca there.

[@19mychaellee71]

Pretty sure that corn and corm were the same word at one time. Also, I learned at one point that strawberries used to be spelled strayberries because they go everywhere.

[@misseli1]

I got an ad for an energy drink after he said to feel free to do some push-ups

[@piousminion7822]

Ok, now post the video where you read out the 34 euphemisms you found for testicles. I want to (Fire of) LEARN! :P

[@mathieuleader8601]

I love the sense of mystique behind the name cherry

[@randalalansmith9883]

Peppercorns, corned beef. "Corn" doesn't even have to be a plant. It can be "grains" like grains of sand. In the case of corned beef, it's corns of salt.

[@GermanCricket13]

In Spanish Strawberry is either Fresa or Frutilla. Idk what fresa means but I know frutilla just means “small fruit”. That one stuck with me because as a kid I once heard an Argentinian call strawberries that and I thought it was funny.

[@leonannaves9273]

Fresa comes from the French word "fraise", which means strawberry

[@pablocasas5906]

Argentina is also one of the few Spanish-speaking countries where pineapples are called ananás, instead of piña

[@Flugs0]

@@leonannaves9273 and fraise comes from latin "fragum"

[@pinkace]

You were wise to pause before yams. Allowed everyone time to pick up their pitchforks & light their torches & head your way.

[@ThomasTheThermonuclearBomb]

3:47 Interesting fact, Spanish uses the exact same word for both grenade and pomegranate

[@billyr2904]

The last one actually surprised me that the word avocado comes from unknown origins.

[@vitorpereira9515]

Açaí also known as the Brazilian beauty, the pride of the Amazon and the life of the people of Pará comes from the Tupi yasa'i, "fruit that cries" "earth", in allusion to the juice released by its fruit.

[@ZecaPinto1]

Cá em Portugal é o açalá

[@vitorpereira9515]

@@ZecaPinto1 "Açalá" não é um termo conhecido ou utilizado em língua portuguesa para se referir ao açaí. O nome "açaí" é amplamente utilizado tanto em português quanto em outras línguas para se referir à fruta e ao seu suco. O açaí é uma fruta nativa da região amazônica do Brasil e seu nome tem origem na língua indígena tupi.

[@ZecaPinto1]

@@vitorpereira9515 tá bom mas fica açaí o frango que eu vou açalá o javali 😆

[@vitorpereira9515]

@@ZecaPinto1 Ora seu! 😂

[@patriciaschuster1371]

This is fascinating!

[@viriathas9910]

Your food videos are legendary.

[@--Snowy--]

This video made me hungry 😋

[@mickeymousesimp]

i have heard your voice so much in such serious context so now my friends find my sense of humor extremely weird for simply laughing at the word "testicle"

[@MrShadowThief]

Funny how in Portuguese we just call them "batatas", with sweet potato being a literal translation and regular potatoes being called "english potatoes".

[@FuriaKKK]

I'm Portuguese and the correct term is just potato (batata), not "English potatoes"

[@dmmartins]

@@FuriaKKK they said in Portuguese, not in Portugal :) I don't remember the last time I heard 'batata inglesa', but it used to be a thing in Brazil

[@FuriaKKK]

@@dmmartins who cares about Brazil? It doesn't even speak a standard Portuguese like Portugal and the rest of the African countries.

[@dmmartins]

@@FuriaKKK some people care so much they complain on the internet that they speak differently.

[@FuriaKKK]

@@dmmartins não fales de boca cheia, e não te engasgues com a minha pila

[@otakubancho6655]

You resisted the low hanging fruit my friend,congratulations are in order!👏👏👏

[@maxddf1049]

i love your videos :D

[@provostkhot]

Italian "pomme d'oro" name gave Polish the "pomidor" for tomato.

[@shellyirby9828]

I love how across time and in different countries we have always been obsessed about our private parts! Great video!

[@kellmac]

This was fun! Thanks for doing this!

[@user-fz1ic8ze6i]

Thanks! It was very interesting.

[@comtedestgermain5627]

Awesome one for the strawberry, I remember us talking about that in the comments months ago

[@Ubique2927]

Another video I only watched because I was bored. I'm glad I did.

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Corn didn't just mean cereal. It pretty much also just meant fruit. So for instance an acorn comes from Old English "Eikorn" meaning oak corn.

[@mitch8072]

in dutch the name for squirrel is more like Eikorn

[@skyworm8006]

In Australia we call 'cantaloupe' rockmelon. I'm not sure why we use a different name but there you go.

[@AJWRAJWR]

People think it's weird what we call capsicums, too.

[@brucewayne2255]

2 minutes in and my mind is already blown. Damn good video. Keep um coming.

[@wikiwi6294]

That was amazing x lol Loved the way he said 500!! pages on strawberries x So hilariously educational x

[@DeathsGarden-oz9gg]

Can you do a video on cactus barriers and why we dont farm them but should.

[@johnnyearp52]

In my city people plant cactus behind their fences or walls to keep the homeless from sleeping there.

[@TheLastheart1]

What an amazing video! Bravo!

[@thunderstrum645]

This was actually so interesting though?? Also damn I love your voice, it sounds so cool /gen

[@avanticurecanti9998]

I live in a very mountanous area and oregano brings me joy, so this video appealed to me.

[@Mote.]

Great video 😊

[@Mote.]

My dad watched it with me

[@davidchunkyonion]

Your videos are great

[@dahuntre]

Super cool!

[@-Thauma-]

I love the sound of your voice ❤

[@Vingul]

Subtle Bach (Brandenburg Concertos) in the background there ;)

[@JonCrs10]

THIRTY-FOUR EUPHEMISMS FOR

[@Terence.McKenna]

That avocado part is nuts

[@Mote.]

I'm watching an alien abduction video of yours right now 😁

[@ITZBJ8]

You’re a good KZbinr :)

[@themulattomaker2602]

6:29 Um, I have it on good authority that "peaches" come from "a can"

[@deadsirius3531]

Same source goes on to posit that they were put there by a man...so really the true origin remains a mystery

[@SamTheFable]

It's funny how you put up a picture of apricots when discussing peaches.

[@qualqui]

🤣On why my forefathers named the avocado, ahuacatl......your silence and omission is more than clear!😂Tlazoh camati forsharing Fire, 👍and greetings 👋from central Mexico.

[@el_equidistante]

he literally said it's a myth that it means testicle, and he is right

[@qaphqa]

Nifty!!

[@pennypappas8096]

In Greek, maize is formally known as αραβόσιτος (arabositos), meaning "wheat of the Arabs". The more informal name is καλαμπόκι (kalamboki). Also, although daktulos still means finger in modern Greek, the fruit date is called χουρμάς (khourmas) from a Persian word.

[@THEEJONESY]

Let's gooo!

[@fransschreuders8488]

You say potato, I say pahtahtoh, they said batata, let's call the whole thing starch.

[@jess53nz]

Thank you for calling them kiwifruit not kiwis! 🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿

[@solarflare623]

Could you do cryptids of Europe or Asia?

[@meadow-maker]

also the wild leak in the UK and Northern Europe looks just like Garlic and you can use the bulbs exactly the same way as garlic. I would challenge any passer by when shown native wild leak to call it anything but a garlic bulb. It is much bigger than regular garlic and the flavour is slightly different. I grow it in my garden and do nothing but pull plants up when I want some pesto.

[@kencrum2524]

In the United States anyway elephant garlic is a leek with a growth habit likegarlic in that it grows in cloves

[@PauperJ]

How about Fire of Learning do a Learning about Fire video?

[@peterrealar2.067]

Glad to have found this channel. It's been a boon for my research on food on my channel that talks about juicing with pop culture.

[@Cephlin]

I trust you Justin

[@yurisc4633]

In brazilian portuguese, ananas or pineaples are called "abacaxi'.

[@meadow-maker]

even in the 70's in the UK people would call fields of grain corn fields and people will still refer to corn fields though Maize is not grown commercially in the UK yet AFAIK

[@LandsmanndesKaisers]

Good

[@jackspedicy2711]

the amount of views display how little people of today use the end, vastless library in their pocket for learning instead of recreation

[@isaacrenne6031]

In Brazil we called potato "English potato". We do have sweet potatos too and we called them just that, as video said we have yams too, but we just called them sweet potatos too.

[@roscoehilton7727]

In South Australia we call Cantaloupe "Rockmelon".

[@chenilleoneil1289]

They’re called rockmelons everywhere in Australia, or at least everywhere I’ve been.

[@krono5el]

In Central America they still call taters Papas.

[@sohopedeco]

In Brazil, the "regular" potato is called "English potato" ("batata inglesa"). 🥔

[@johnnyearp52]

Ironic.

[@thealexprime]

Morango , milho e abacate.

[@spacemissing]

So you don't have the balls to call avocados "testicle fruit". I DO!

[@zintosion]

pineapple is indded an excellent fruit.

[@roachdoggjr1940]

I love etymology

[@whothefoxcares]

#DURIAN: duck or your head will hurt, in Tagalog.

[@muratcelik2472]

Make a video about south African history.

[@captaindonut9075]

A Lithuanian name for every food item name: 1.Pomidorai 2.Kokosas 3.Bananas 4.Datulės 5.Arbūzas 6.Kukurūzas 7.Salotos 8.Žiediniai Kopūstai 9.Kopūstas 10.Ridikėliai 11.Ananasas 12.Apelsinas 13.Česnakas 14.Granatas 15.Kivis 16.cukinija 17.Vyšnios 18.Baklažanas 19.Melionės 20.Bazilikas 21.Rozmarinas 22.Levandos 23.Graikiški Riešutai 24.Raudonėlis 25.Persikai 26.Batatai, Bulvės 27.Braškės 28.Avokadas Enjoy the word comperison from the oldest still in use indoeuropian language.😊

[@THEAmateurSommelier]

Peanut's favorite fruit or vegetable: Go!

[@silvermoontearoom7123]

hot dog 🌭

[@unripetheberrby6283]

"Joy of the Mountain" is cutest name ever

[@MicaiahBaron]

I wanted to hear all 34 examples... Stupid algorithm.

[@TommyTheWalker]

Tomato in Italian is pomodoro which means golden Apple

[@larryl43]

great news

[@johnnotrealname8168]

Only 30 minutes late and doest though mean they were thinking when they named things? I thought Adam just got tired after a Cow or something, I am probably badly remembering a Robin McLaurin Williams stand-up routine.

[@Tomemos1Jager]

Nobody likes eggplants! *kicks it*

[@jjerg]

10:00 I've retrieved 15 examples, not including avocado, in this vid. 🤓

[@haileybalmer9722]

I see what you mean. A lot of the time, we can just look at the Germanic origin of English words, but Germans call strawberries "erdbeeren" or "dirt berries", so no luck there.

[@beepboop204]

[@valhalla-tupiniquim]

Hello! Greetings from Brazil. In Portuguese, we use the word orégano. This accent on letter e indicates this letter must be read with the mouth opened.

[@PFletcherNWO]

What about razzberry & raspberry?

[@yamanabboud5393]

we name cherries as (karaz) in arabic

[@eeveefennecfox]

no matter what,I still hate cherries,they're disgusting,I wonder why people even like them

[@47d75]

No Pumpkins?

[@knuckle12356]

Excuse me? I believe I ordered the fingers, not the _fingers..._ Ughhh. THANK YOU. _I mean really, how hard is it to take an order..??_

[@user-ug2yz6vb7p]

Good stuff ...hashtagvegans4ever andOMG.. 😂

[@implausibleimpossiblehypot4006]

Wild lettuce milk csn be refined into a semi painkiller called soapium i belive

[@Groose1972]

I wonder where the word blueberry comes from

[@colmhain]

December 22, 1944 To the German Commander, NUTS! The American Commander

[@Fireoflearning]

Wow, not joking, I was actually coincidentally thinking about that exchange last night, completely unrelated to this video.

[@igor-yp1xv]

Sea turtles shiver at the sight of The Forbidden Berry

[@dnm3732]

Vegeta

[@CyanTangerine]

Kaka carrot cake

[@johnnotrealname8168]

@@CyanTangerineCarrot cake is delicious.

[@iloriifeoluwapodeborah3796]

We have sweet potato, the other potato is called Irish potato in Nigeria

[@frankleepower2333]

How did the grapefruit get its name?