eggplant

Eggplant comes simply from egg + plant, coined because the earliest varieties known by this name were small, white, and egg-shaped.

The name stuck even as the fruit we now call eggplant grew larger and turned deep purple, so the word no longer describes the shape or color most people picture.

Several other languages made the same connection: Dutch and Afrikaans have eierplant, German has Eierpflanze, and Swedish has äggplanta, all literally meaning 'egg-plant.' Afrikaans and Icelandic went a step further with eiervrug and eggaldin, both meaning 'egg-fruit.'