a tropical, tender plant, Solanum aculeatissimum, of the nightshade family, having prickly leaves, clusters of large, star-shaped white flowers, and red, tomatolike fruit.
"tomato," 1570s, corresponding to French pomme d'amour, German liebesapfel, but the reason for the term remains obscure. One guess is that it is a corruption of Italian pomo de'Mori or Spanish pome dei Moro, literally "Moorish apple."