'tapered-fruited' is a Modern English compound formed from 'tapered' + 'fruited', where 'tapered' is the past participle/adjective form of 'taper' (used to mean 'made narrower' or 'narrowing') and 'fruit' (with the adjectival suffix -ed) refers to the fruit or fruits of a plant.

'tapered' derives from the verb 'taper' in English (used in descriptive senses since Middle English), while 'fruit' comes from Old French 'fruit' and ultimately Latin 'fructus' meaning 'produce' or 'yield'. The compound 'tapered-fruited' is formed in botanical/descriptive English by combining these elements to describe fruit shape.

The compound originally simply combined two descriptive elements ('tapered' + 'fruited'); over time it has come to be used as a concise botanical adjective specifically meaning 'bearing fruits that taper to a point' rather than any general sense of 'narrowed' alone.