apple
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apple¹
- /ˈæpəl/ Australia, Canada, US
- [ˈæpəl] ~ [ˈæpl̩] Australia, Canada, US
- /ˈapəl/ British, Northern England, Scotland
- [ˈapəl] ~ [ˈapl̩] British, Northern England, Scotland
- /ˈɛpəl/ New Zealand
- [ˈɛpəl] ~ [ˈɛpl̩] New Zealand
- /ˈæː.pɘl/ India
- /ˈɑː.pɘl/ India
Rhymes with -æpəl
Where it comes from
The noun is derived from Middle English appel (“Malus domestica fruit or tree, apple; any type of fruit, nut, or tuber; tree bearing fruit; (figurative) ball, sphere; (Christianity) forbidden fruit in Eden”), from Old English æppel (“apple; any type of fruit; (figurative) ball, sphere; eyeball”), from Proto-West Germanic *applu (“apple; any type of fruit”), from Proto-Germanic *aplaz (“apple; any type of fruit”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl, *h₂ébl̥ (“apple”).
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As regards noun sense 1.4 (“forbidden fruit”), the type of fruit eaten by Adam and Eve is not identified in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. It may have come to be identified with the apple because of the similarity between Latin mālum (“apple”) and malum (“evil; misery, torment; wrongdoing”).
The inheritance from Germanic is clear, but the etymology of the word beyond that point is uncertain and disputed. The word may show a borrowing from a non-Indo-European language, or the forms in Germanic, Celtic, Baltic, and Slavonic may all be developed from a common Indo-European base—although none of the attempts to identify cognates in other branches of Indo-European have yet met with general acceptance.
In Old English, the word originally followed the strong masculine u-stem declension, but even in early texts it shows a shift toward the more common a-stem declension (compare the nominative plural æppla beside the rare æpplas; see further A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §613). A possible weak by-form is also suggested by the genitive plural æpplena (instead of the expected æppla) in an isolated attestation from the first half of the 11th century.
Among the variant forms, the β forms show metanalysis (see Metanalysis).
The verb is derived from the noun.
cognates
Cognate with:
* Old Frisian appel, Middle Dutch appel (Dutch appel), Old Saxon appul (Middle Low German appel), Old High German apful, aphul, aphel, apfel (Middle High German apfel, German Apfel),
* Old Norse epli (Icelandic epli, Faroese epli, Norwegian Bokmål eple, Norwegian Nynorsk eple, Swedish äpple, Danish æble),
* Elfdalian epple, Jamtish eppel, Scanian æple,
* Crimean Gothic apel,
* Gaulish avallo, aballo- (perhaps > Latin acerabulus),
* Old Irish abal, ubal, ubul (Irish úll),
* Old Welsh afall, afal (Welsh afal, afall),
* Old Prussian woble, wobalne,
* Lithuanian obelis, obuolys,
* Latvian ābele, ābols, ābolis,
* Old Church Slavonic jablanĭ,
* Old East Slavic jabolon′, jablŭko (Russian яблоня (jablonja), яблоко (jabloko)),
* Old Polish jabłoń, jabłko (Polish jabłoń, jabłko).
Possibly also Latin Abella (town in Campania; compare Virgil Aeneid 7.740 maliferae ... moenia Abellae 'the walls of apple-bearing Abella').
noun apples
- The fruit of the tree Malus domestica, chiefly with a green, red, or yellow skin, cultivated in temperate climates for cidermaking, cooking, and eating. All apples eaten ſoone after yͭ they be gathered, are cold, hard to digeſt, and do make ill and corrupted bloud, but being wel kept vntill yͤ next winter, or the year folowing, eatẽ [eaten] after meales, they are right holeſome, & doe confyrme the ſtomacke, & make good digeſtion, ſpecially if they b
- Often with a qualifying word: any fruit or vegetable, or any other thing (such as a cone or gall) produced by a plant, especially if from a tree and similar to the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1). custard apple rose apple thorn apple
- Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour. [H]old a round ball or hollovv apple of glaſſe full of vvater againſt the Sunne, it vvill be ſo hot, that it is ready to burne any cloth that it toucheth.
- Ellipsis of Adam's apple (“the lump in the throat, usually more noticeable in men than in women; the laryngeal prominence”). The sweat of fear and exertion was streaming down his face and chest, and his breath came in short, tearing, hard-drawn gasps and gulps, while the apple in his throat leaped up and down ceaselessly like a ball balanced on a dancing jet of water.
- Ellipsis of apple-green (“a bright green colour with a light tint of yellow, like that of a Granny Smith apple”).
- Ellipsis of apple of the eye (“the pupil, or pupil and iris, of the eye, originally believed to be spherical; also, the eyeball”). None have their eies all of one colour: for the ball or apple in the middeſt is ordinarily of another colour than the vvhite about it.
- The round, fleshy part of a cheek between the eye and the corner of the mouth when a person is smiling.
- The surface of revolution of a circular arc of an angle greater than 180° rotated about the straight line passing through the arc's two endpoints.
- In full apple bowl: a round bowl of a tobacco pipe; also, a tobacco pipe with such a bowl.
- In full old apple: a baseball. Hey Dad! What do you say we toss the old apple around, huh? Sound like fun?
- According to postbiblical Christian tradition, the fruit of the tree of knowledge which was eaten by Adam and Eve despite God commanding them not to do so; the forbidden fruit. Him [man] by fraud I [Satan] have ſeduc'd / From his Creator, and the more to increaſe / Your vvonder, vvith an Apple; […]
-
Synonym of pome (“a type of fruit in which the often edible flesh arises from the swollen base of the flower and not from the carpels”).
Similar: pome
- An imaginary diminutive unit of height. He's only three apples tall
-
A tree of the genus Malus; especially Malus domestica which is cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree.
Trees that beare Maſt, and Nuts, are commonly more laſting, than thoſe that beare Fruits; Eſpecially the Moiſter Fruits: As Oakes, Beeches, Cheſ-nuts, VVall-nuts, Almonds, Pine-Trees, &c. laſt longer than Apples, Peares, Plums, &c.
Similar: malus
-
Synonym of applewood (“the wood of the apple tree”).
Similar: applewood
- A fruit of any kind.
- A person. “I saw a little guy with a can opener fooling around that gum machine,” was the reply. “And then?” asked McGonigle. “I can’t say,” replied the poor apple.
-
Synonym of CBer (“a CB radio enthusiast”).
Because of overcrowding, many a CB enthusiast (called an "apple") is strapping an illegal linear amplifier ("boots") on to his transceiver ("ears") which is limited by the Federal Communications Commission ("Big Daddy" in the US) to an output power of no more than five watts.
Similar: CBer
- An assist.
- A Native American or redskinned person who acts or thinks like a white (Caucasian) person. My ancestors five generations removed were "apples" who were "White" on the inside and "Red" on the outside. […] We need a new breed of "apples."
verb apples · appling · appled
- To make (something) appear like an apple (noun sense 1.1). To choose responsibly, our active citizen must know what is being offered, much of this knowledge being filtered through appearance: things must look what they are supposed to be. Apples must look like applies. One might say they have to be appled-up; varieties are selected for marketing which have
- To become like an apple. He glanced at me, his cheeks appled in the impish grin I was learning to recognise as the clever under-side of his broad and gentle smile.
- To collect fir-cones.
- Of a flower bud or vegetable (especially a root vegetable): to grow into the shape of an apple. As for Scolymus [possibly type of artichoke?], it differeth from the reſt of theſe Thiſtles herein, That the root, if it be ſodden, it is good to be eaten: beſides, it hath a ſtraunge nature, for all the ſort of them during the Summer throughout, never reſt and give over, but either they floure, or
Apple²
- /ˈæp.əl/
Sounds like apple · Rhymes with -æpəl
Where it comes from
From apple. As a surname, also an Americanized form of Appel or Apfel.
proper noun Apples
- Nickname for New York City: a major city in New York, United States; more commonly in the form the Big Apple.
- A female given name from English.
- A surname.
noun Apples
- A computer produced by the company Apple Inc. Arthur bought the Apple anyway. Over a few days he also acquired some astronomical software, plotted the movements of stars, drew rough little diagrams of how he seemed to remember the stars to have been […]
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: malus pumila, pomme, potato, tator, fruit, vegetable, tree, russet, hash, strudel, pie, seed, bee, jewel, bone, cobbler
Translations
Every language
noun fruit of Malus domestica
| Español | manzana, mela, poma |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 사과 sagwa |
| 日本語 | 林檎 ringo, リンゴ ringo, 苹果 |
| 中文 | 蘋果 /苹果 píngguǒ |
| हिन्दी | सेब seb |
| Kiswahili | tofaa |
| Português | maçã |
| Français | pomme |
| Deutsch | Apfel, Àpfel |
| Italiano | mela, pomo |
| Ελληνικά | μήλο mílo, μᾶλον mâlon |
| Română | măr |
| Русский | я́блоко jábloko |
| Tiếng Việt | táo tây, bôm, táo, bom |
| العربية | تُفَّاحَة tuffāḥa, تُفَّاح tuffāḥ |
| עברית | תַּפּוּחַ tapúakh |
noun a computer produced by the company Apple Inc.
| 한국어 | 애플 aepeul |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | アップル appuru |
| 中文 | 蘋果電腦 /苹果电脑 píngguǒ diànnǎo |
| Русский | Эпл Epl |
| العربية | أَبْل ʔabl |
Talk about this word "apple." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/apple. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. apple. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/apple "apple." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/apple.Cite this
@misc{apple_2026,
title = {apple},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/apple},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
