Etymology

eye-apple

Today it means: The eyeball or pupil Full definition →

Middle English ij appel ← Old English ēagæppel ← Proto-West Germanic *augapl
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*augapl
  2. Old English · inherited fromēagæppel“eyeball, pupil”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromij appel
  4. English todayeye-apple

From Middle English ij appel, from Old English ēagæppel (“eyeball, pupil”), from Proto-West Germanic *augapl, equivalent to eye + apple. Cognate with West Frisian eachappel (“pupil”), Dutch oogappel (“eyeball; pupil”), German Augapfel (“eyeball”), Danish øjeæble (“eyeball”), Norwegian øyeeple (“eyeball”).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishij appel all →

apple of the eye

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.