From Nahuatl 'āhuacatl' meaning both 'avocado' and 'testicle' — English reshaped it to resemble Spanish 'abogado' (lawyer).
A pear-shaped tropical fruit with green or blackish skin, smooth oily edible flesh, and a large stone.
From Spanish 'aguacate,' from Nahuatl 'āhuacatl,' which meant both 'avocado' and 'testicle' — the fruit was named for its shape. The spelling change from 'aguacate' to 'avocado' in English was influenced by folk etymology: English speakers reshaped the unfamiliar word to resemble Spanish 'abogado' (advocate, lawyer), producing the form 'avocado' by the 1690s. The fruit was also known as 'alligator pear' in English, another folk-etymological corruption. Key roots: āhuacatl (Nahuatl: "avocado; testicle").
The word 'avocado' literally means 'testicle' in Nahuatl. The Aztecs named the fruit 'āhuacatl' for its shape, and the word did double duty for both meanings. When the word entered English, speakers who found 'aguacate' hard to pronounce reshaped it to sound like 'avocado' (from Spanish 'abogado,' meaning lawyer) — so the fruit went from being named after a body part to being accidentally named after a lawyer.