tomato (English)

Where does "tomato" come from?

The English word 'tomato' is a variant of the earlier form 'tomate'[1]. This word traveled into English through Spanish 'tomate'[1], which was borrowed from Classical Nahuatl 'tomatl'[1], originally meaning 'tomatillo'[2]. The Classical Nahuatl term itself traces back further to the Proto-Nahuan reconstructed form '*toma-tl'[1][3].

Open questions

• The Proto-Nahuan form is a linguistic reconstruction rather than an directly attested historical word. [1] [3]

Full etymology tree

• tomato (English), 'A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit.'
  • derived tomate (English)
    • borrowed tomate (Spanish), 'tomato (plant)'
      • derived tomatl (Classical Nahuatl), 'a tomatillo, solanaceae family.'
        • inherited *toma-tl (Proto-Nahuan)

Ancestors

• tomate (Spanish)
• tomatl (Classical Nahuatl)
• *toma- (Proto-Nahuan)

Descendants and derived words

• tomato (Chichewa)
• tomaat (Dutch)
• beefsteak tomato (English)
• beef tomato (English)
• bitter tomato (English)
• bush tomato (English)
• cherry tomato (English)
• clamato (English)
• cocktail tomato (English)
• currant tomato (English)
• Datterini tomato (English)
• desert tomato (English)

Sources

1. tomato (English) - Wiktionary
2. tomate (Spanish) - Wiktionary
3. tomatl (Classical Nahuatl) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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