Why are tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and cucumbers botanically fruits?

Botanically, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and cucumbers are classified as fruits because they are the ripened ovaries of flowering plants that contain seeds.12

While these items are often treated as vegetables in culinary contexts, the botanical definition of a fruit focuses on the plant's reproductive structure rather than its flavor or use in a meal. In angiosperms, the ovary protects the developing seeds and aids in their dissemination. Because tomatoes, peppers, and members of the squash family (such as pumpkins and cucumbers) develop from a flower's ovary and serve as the vehicle for the plant's seeds, they meet the scientific criteria for fruit.1324

In contrast, vegetables like carrots or potatoes are considered vegetative parts of the plant—such as roots or stems—rather than the reproductive bodies produced after fertilization.3