Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit??

Answer 1

The world really has two different meanings for the word fruit. There is the use of the word when you go to the grocery store, and then there's the use of the word by a botanist. If it is the fleshy growth originating from a flower and has seeds it is
considered a fruit. So a tomato (as well as a gourd or cucumber or pea pod) is a fruit.

A potato fails because it does not come from the flower
In other words, things that do not contain seeds or sprout out of the flower of a plant technically are vegetables. Everything else is a fruit.
But...
In 1887, the tomato reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling? Vegetable. So legally speaking, it seems, the tomato is not a fruit. It is all here:
http://ask.yahoo.com/20010411.html
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question143.htm

and runningman's answer here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060715061934AANDCNR

Answer 2

Tomatos are actually the most commonly eaten fruit in the world. Many sources say the banana is, but it isn't.

A fruit is defined as any grown mass containing seeds. Cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, tomatoes are all fruit.
Another interesting piece is that fruit are also technically vegetables. Vegetables are simply anything edible that grows which include fruit, herbs, rice, wheat potaoes. Pretty much everything except meat products.

Answer 3

It's a fruit, but I like to think of it as being a vegetable.

Answer 4

Fruit.

Answer 5

Fruit.

Answer 6

Tomatoes are vegetable, not fruit.

Answer 7

I would say a vegetable but the food diagram says its a fruit.

Answer 8

It is technically a fruit, and a berry no less. But the food pyramid puts it under the vegetable category.

Answer 9

technically a fruit because of the seeds but it is not as sweet as a cherry or a plum so people just call it a vegetable.

Answer 10

tomato is a fruit according to the dictionary.