Re: Why is fruit classified a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable?

Vegetable is a nonbotanical or popular term. Fruit is both a botanical term 
and a nonbotanical or popular term. 

The botanical definition of fruit is much more inclusive than the nonbotanical 
definition because all 250,000+ species of flowering plants produce botanical 
fruits, or ripened ovaries. The popular definition of fruit is much more 
limited, being a sweet, botanical fruit usually eaten as a dessert, snack or 
juice. 

Vegetables are edible plant parts that are usually not as sweet as 
nonbotanical fruits and are usually eaten in the main part of a meal. 
Vegetables can be any plant part: fruit, stem, root, leaf, flower or seed. 
Tomato, eggplant, cucumber and squash are botanical fruits but are classed as 
vegetables by the general public.

References


Re: Fruits and vegetables/ fruits and vegetable plants


Re: What parts of plants do we eat?


Dictionary Definitions of Fruit


Dictionary Definition of Vegetable