apple of someone's eye

English

Etymology

Deuteronomy 32:10d: "He guarded him as the apple 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

• Audio (AU):

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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.

Related terms

• eye-apple

See also

• apple of the eye

Translations

favourite, a particular preference, or a loved one

• Afrikaans: oogappeltjie, oogappel
• Catalan: la nina dels ulls f
• Chinese:

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

• Dutch: oogappel (nl) m
• Finnish: silmäterä (fi)
• French: prunelle de ses yeux (fr)
• German: Augapfel (de) m
• Hebrew: בָּבַת עַיִן (he) f (bavát 'áyin)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: szeme fénye
• Navajo: ayóó ábídóóʼní
• Portuguese: menina dos olhos (pt) f
• Russian: свет оче́й m (svet očéj), зени́ца о́ка f (zeníca óka)
• Scottish Gaelic: dearc na sùla f
• Spanish: la niña de sus ojos f
• Swedish: ögonsten (sv) c
• Turkish: gözbebeği (tr)