apple of someone's eye

English

Etymology

Deuteronomy 32:10, where it translates Biblical Hebrew אִישׁוֹן עֵינוֹ‎ (ʾîšôn ʿênô, literally “the pupil of his eye”); from Middle English appel of the eyȝe, appel of þe ye (“eyeball; the visible part of the eye; pupil”), a dissimilated variant of Middle English ij appel (literally “eye-apple”). Compare English eye-apple.

Pronunciation

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Noun

apple of someone's eye (plural apples of someone's eye)

1. (idiomatic) A favourite, a particular preference, or a loved one; the object of somebody's affections.

   Sara was never the same after losing her daughter, the apple of her eye.

   • 1972, Stevie Wonder (lyrics and music), “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”, in Talking Book:

     You are the apple of my eye / Forever you'll stay in my heart

   • 1982, Domenic Bugatti; Frank Muskeer; Christopher Cerf (lyrics), “Prowlin'”, in Grease 2:

     You see the apple of your eye, stackin' peaches in a five foot pile / Just waitin' for some guy to come, and take her rollin' down the aisle

Related terms

• eye-apple

See also

• apple of the eye

Translations

favourite, a particular preference, or a loved one

• Afrikaans: oogappeltjie, oogappel
• Azerbaijani: gözün ağı-qarası, bəbək (az), göz bəbəyi
• Catalan: la nina dels ulls f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心肝寶貝 (zh), 心肝宝贝 (zh) (xīngān bǎobèi)

• Dutch: oogappel (nl) m
• Finnish: silmäterä (fi)
• French: prunelle de ses yeux (fr)
• German: Augapfel (de) m
• Greek: κόρη οφθαλμού (kóri ofthalmoú)
• Hebrew: בָּבַת עַיִן‎ (he) f (bavát 'áyin)

• Hungarian: szeme fénye
• Japanese: 目に入れても痛くないもの (me ni iretemo itakunai mono)
• Navajo: ayóó ábídóóʼní
• Polish: oczko w głowie (pl) n
• Portuguese: menina dos olhos (pt) f
• Russian: свет оче́й m (svet očéj), зени́ца о́ка f (zeníca óka)
• Scottish Gaelic: dearc na sùla f
• Serbo-Croatian: zjenica oka f
• Spanish: la niña de sus ojos f, el ojito derecho de alguien m
• Swedish: ögonsten (sv) c
• Turkish: gözbebeği (tr)