Why is a strawberry called a berry when it technically isn’t one?

The term “strawberry” can be misleading because strawberries are not true botanical berries. In botanical terms, a “berry” is a simple fruit with seeds and pulp produced from the ovary of a single flower. Examples of true berries include blueberries, cranberries, and bananas. Strawberries, however, are aggregate fruits, meaning they form from a flower that has multiple ovaries. Each apparent seed on the outside of a strawberry is actually an individual fruit, called an achene, with a seed inside. The flesh that we eat comes from the flower’s receptacle, which has expanded to form the tasty, juicy part of the fruit. Despite not fitting the botanical definition of a berry, strawberries have long been labeled as such in common usage, and this nomenclature has persisted over time.