apple of someone's eye
/ˌæpl̩‿əv sʌmwʌnz ˈaɪ/
"apple-of-someone-s-eye" is a 18-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“apple of someone's eye” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 22
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The object of somebody's affections; a person (or sometimes a thing) that someone strongly prefers; a favorite, a loved one.
Corpus desk
Index EN-apple-of-someone-s-eye · apple of someone's eye · English
apple of someone's eye · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 22 letters
- VOW-10 10 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | apple of someone's eye |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌæpl̩‿əv sʌmwʌnz ˈaɪ/ |
| Letters | 22 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “apple of someone's eye” in English
Rare enough to double-check
apple of someone's eye is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌæpl̩‿əv sʌmwʌnz ˈaɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The object of somebody's affections; a person (or sometimes a thing) that someone strongly prefers; a favorite, a loved one.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for apple of someone's eye in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *h₂ébōl From Middle English appel of the eie (“pupil of the eye; cornea; (figurative) something highly valued”), from Old English æppel on the ēagan, used in biblical texts (Deuteronomy 32:10, Psalm 17:8; Proverbs 7:2, Lamentations 2:18, and Zecha… The correct English form is apple of someone's eye, spelled A-P-P-L-E- -O-F- -S-O-M-E-O-N-E-'-S- -E-Y-E.
Definition
- 1The object of somebody's affections; a person (or sometimes a thing) that someone strongly prefers; a favorite, a loved one.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how apple of someone's eye appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Sara was never the same after losing her daughter, the apple of her eye.
Kepe me as the apple of an eye, defende me vnder the ſhadowe of thy wynges.
Etymology
PIE word *h₂ébōl From Middle English appel of the eie (“pupil of the eye; cornea; (figurative) something highly valued”), from Old English æppel on the ēagan, used in biblical texts (Deuteronomy 32:10, Psalm 17:8; Proverbs 7:2, Lamentations 2:18, and Zechariah 2:8; compare the quotations) to designate the pupil of the eye as something precious to be protected. The use of "apple" in English is apparently due to the pupil or cornea being thought of as a solid, globular object.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.