earthapple

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

earthapple

Where it comes from

From earlier erth-apple (“tuberous root of the sowbread", also "tomato-like fruit of the mandrake”), from Middle English *erth-appel, from Old English eorþæppel (“cucumber”, literally “earth or ground-apple”), from Proto-West Germanic *erþapplu (the name of various types of fruits which grow on or below the ground; gourd, melon, squash), equivalent to earth + apple. The modern sense of "potato" is a calque of Dutch aardappel (“potato”). Compare also German Erdapfel, French pomme de terre.

noun earthapples · earth-apple · earth apple

A Jerusalem artichoke (the tuber of Helianthus tuberosus); the plant that produces it.
Similar: ground pear, sunchoke, more at Jerusalem artichoke
rare A potato; the plant that produces it. The most probable account I have been able to collect is, that a vessel of Sir Walter Raleigh's, returning from Guiana, put into the west of Ireland in distress, having on board some potatoes which they called earth-apples.
Similar: groundapple, ground pear, more at potato
historical The fruit of the mandrake (Mandragora officinarum); the plant itself.
obsolete Any of various tubers or the tuberous plants that produce them, especially sowbread (genus Cyclamen).

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"earthapple." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/earthapple. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

earthapple. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/earthapple

Chicago

"earthapple." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/earthapple.

BibTeX

@misc{earthapple_2026,
  title = {earthapple},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/earthapple},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}