tomato
tuh-MAY-toh · noun
Origin
English tomato comes from earlier tomate, borrowed from Spanish tomate, which came from Classical Nahuatl tomatl, tracing back to Proto-Nahuan *toma-tl.
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Journey
The word passed from Nahuatl into Spanish as tomate, then into English, where the spelling shifted slightly to tomato.
Related words
It's a close relative of tomatillo, which comes from the same Nahuatl root with a Spanish diminutive ending attached.