Meanings
plural mayapples · alternative May apple
- A fruit-bearing flowering plant with poisonous roots, native to eastern North America, taxonomic name Podophyllum peltatum.
Etoposide came from the fruit of the poisonous mayapple.
2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 206 - The fruit of the plant Podophyllum peltatum.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounNorth American herb with poisonous root stock and edible though insipid fruit
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From May + apple. The fruit is notably neither related to apples (though "apple" itself has an archaic sense of generically referring to fruit), nor ripens during the month of May; only the flower blooms then around then in certain areas.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan podofil
- podofilplant
Dutch schildvoetblad
- schildvoetbladplant
French podophylle pelté
- podophylle peltéplant
German Schildförmiges Fußblatt
- Schildförmiges Fußblattplant
Polish stopkowiec tarczowaty
- stopkowiec tarczowatyplant
Spanish ipecacuana de la Carolina
- ipecacuana de la Carolinaplant
Tagalog podopil, mansanas ng Mayo
- podopilplant
- mansanas ng Mayoplant
Cite this entry
mayapple. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mayapple
“mayapple.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mayapple. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mayapple,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mayapple.
Source: mayapple on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.