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apple

Meaning

Frequency

B2
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈæpəl/
Etymology

In summary

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl Proto-Germanic *aplaz Proto-West Germanic *applu Old English æppel Middle English appel English apple 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”). As regards 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 verb is derived from the noun. Cognates Cognate with Scots aipple (“apple”), North Frisian aapel, Oapel, ååpel (“apple”), Saterland Frisian Apel, Appel (“apple”), West Frisian apel, appel (“apple”), Alemannic German effél, epfel, epfil, öpfil (“apple”), Bavarian eipfele, epfl, Åpfe (“apple”), Cimbrian oupfal, öpfel, öpfl (“apple”), Dutch appel (“apple”), German Apfel (“apple”), German Low German Appel (“apple”), Limburgish Ape̩l, appel (“apple”), Luxembourgish Apel (“apple”), Mòcheno epfl (“apple”), Vilamovian epuł (“apple”), Yiddish עפּל (epl, “apple”), Danish æble (“apple”), Faroese epl, epli (“apple; potato”), Icelandic epli (“apple”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk eple (“apple”), Swedish äpple (“apple”), Crimean Gothic apel (“apple”), Irish úll (“apple”), Lithuanian óbuolỹs (“apple”), Russian я́блоко (jábloko, “apple”), Welsh afal (“apple”), possibly Ancient Greek ἄμπελος (ámpelos, “vine”).

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