Yes, eggplant is botanically classified as a berry.
While often used as a vegetable in culinary applications, the eggplant meets the botanical definition of a berry: a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary containing one or more seeds. This definition applies because eggplants develop from the single ovary of a flower and contain multiple small seeds within the fleshy fruit. They are part of the nightshade family, Solanaceae, along with other "vegetables" that are actually berries, like tomatoes and peppers. The common usage of "vegetable" is often based on culinary practices rather than strict botanical classification.
Therefore, despite being used as a vegetable in cooking, eggplant scientifically fulfills the criteria to be considered a berry.
