ananas (English)

Where does "ananas" come from?

The English word 'ananas' has traveled across multiple European languages before its arrival, stemming ultimately from the Old Tupi word 'naná', meaning 'pineapple'[1]. The term was adopted into Portuguese as 'ananás' during the sixteenth century[4], a form that was subsequently borrowed by Spanish[5], French[2], and Italian[3]. English received the word through various European channels, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian[1].

Open questions

• The final s in the Portuguese form is unetymological and possibly results from a back-formation from the word for the pineapple plant. [4]

Full etymology tree

• ananas (English), 'Pineapple.'
  • borrowed ananas (Italian), 'pineapple'
    • borrowed ananás (Portuguese), 'pineapple plant (Ananas comosus)'
      • borrowed ananás (Spanish), 'pineapple plant'
        • borrowed ananas (French), 'pineapple'
      • borrowed ananá (Old Tupi), 'alternative form of naná'
        • inherited naná (Old Tupi), 'pineapple plant (Ananas comosus)'
          • inherited *nanã (Proto-Tupi-Guarani), 'pineapple'
      • influenced by ananazeiro (Portuguese)

Ancestors

• ananas (Italian)
• ananas (French)
• ananás (Spanish)
• ananás (Portuguese)
• naná (Old Tupi)

Sources

1. ananas (English) - Wiktionary
2. ananas (French) - Wiktionary
3. ananas (Italian) - Wiktionary
4. ananás (Portuguese) - Wiktionary
5. ananás (Spanish) - Wiktionary
6. naná (Old Tupi) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris