What is the adam apple

Adam’s Apple: What Does this Term Mean? with Helpful Examples

The phrase Adam’s apple might be heard often during day to day conversation, but what is the meaning of this term? In this article, we are going to be taking a look at the meaning of this term as well as looking at some examples of how it can be used in a conversation. We will also be looking at where the saying comes from originally.

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Adam’s Apple

Adam’s Apple Meaning

The meaning of the term Adam’s apple refers to the protruding lump found on the neck of a man, made by the larynx.

Origin of this term

The term Adam’s apple originally comes from the Bible and the story of Even eating a piece of forbidden fruit which is usually referred to as being an apple. The suggestion was that Adam took a bite and the fruit became lodged in his throat causing a lump on the outside.

“Adam’s Apple” Examples

Examples in Statements

Let’s now take a look at some examples of how the term Adam’s apple might work in a sentence.

The first example is one which is being said by a teacher during a class.

• The larynx grows much larger in boys than it does in girls and is referred to as Adam’s apple.

The next statement is being made by a paramedic at the scene of an accident.

• The injured person sustained a blow to Adam’s apple rendering him unable to speak.

Conversation Examples

You may hear the term Adam’s apple being used in many different conversations, we are now going to take a look at some times in which you may hear it.

The first conversation is one which is taking place between two friends.

• Person 1; “My throat is really sore.”
• Person 2; “Perhaps you have an infection.”
• Person 2; “No, it feels more on the outside, around my Adam’s apple.”

The next conversation is happening between a father and his young child.

• Person 1;” Daddy, what is that lump on your neck?”
• Person 2; “That is my Adam’s apple.”

Other Ways to Say the Idiom

There may be other ways in which you could refer to the meaning of the term Adam’s apple, let’s take a look at some examples of things you might say.

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What is the adam apple

Today I found out why the Adam’s Apple is called the Adam’s Apple.

The origins of this term go all the way back to the Biblical event where Eve gave Adam a forbidden fruit, which is commonly misrepresented as an apple. The term then basically comes from the legend that when he ate of the “apple”, the piece got stuck in his throat and made a lump.

Now, of course, according to the Bible story, it wasn’t an apple Adam and Eve ate of, it was a fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, of which there was apparently only one. Besides the obvious fact that I don’t know anyone who’s felt particularly more knowledgeable in the ways of good and evil when they ate an apple, an apple tree is not self pollinating; so you’d need more than one to have it produce more of itself, which pretty firmly kills the whole “apple tree” theory.

To make the origins of the term even more ridiculous, even if it was an apple and it got stuck in his throat, his children wouldn’t somehow miraculously also have apples stuck in their throats. This is about as absurd as the age old “Well if Adam had a rib taken out to make Eve, why aren’t men missing a rib?” Or the equally ludicrous corresponding claim by many that men are somehow missing a rib. Both sides of the argument seem to have suspended all logic while arguing over this triviality. The real irony here is the “rib” translation was actually a mistranslation. For more on that, see the Bonus Factoids.

So this all begs the question, why do most people think the Bible says Adam and Eve ate an apple to get them tossed out of the Garden of Eden? Why not an orange or a peach or why not just call it like it is stated in the Bible story? Well, Aquila Ponticus, who was a second century translator translating the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek, took the liberty of translating it as an apple tree, even though the original text doesn’t say that. It’s likely that he chose this due to the fact that he was translating it into Greek for Greeks and that in Greek mythology apples were seen as symbols of desire and destruction.

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Why Is It Called an ‘Adam’s Apple’?

Ask the Internet why the bump on the front of our necks is called an «Adam’s apple» and you’ll most likely get a tale that sweeps you back to the Garden of Eden just in time to see the Bible’s first man, Adam, choke on a bite of forbidden apple that the first woman, Eve, has convinced him to taste (having herself been tempted to nibble by an evil serpent). According to the story, God made a chunk of apple get stuck in Adam’s throat as a reminder of his sin—and the reminder was then passed on to all men ever after, with the moniker «Adam’s apple» attached to make sure no one forgets.

But the common wisdom of the Internet is wrong on this one. The name of the bump on the front of the neck—which is found in all humans but is usually more prominent in men—has nothing to do with Adam or Eve or the Garden of Eden.

Note to self: eat more fruit.

The term Adam’s apple (or technically «laryngeal protuberance,» formed by the largest cartilage of the larynx) has been used in English since at least 1625. It goes by analogous names in other European languages, among them French (pomme d’Adam; the French also use morceau d’Adam—»Adam’s morsel»); Italian (pomo d’Adamo); and German (Adamsapfel). But decades before (and after) Adam’s apple came to refer to that anatomical item, it was used as a term for several edible items of the fruit variety, among them plantains, pomelos, and citrons. This rather (from a modern perspective, anyway) willy-nilly application of the term was in keeping with a habit that dates at least to medieval times, when European writers used Latin variations on the same theme—pomum Adam, pomum Adami, Adami pomum, etc. —for various fruits, among them the cherished pomegranate. The implication was likely that the vaunted fruit belonged in the category of those «fruits of Paradise» supposed to have been enjoyed in the long-lost Eden.

Meanwhile, medieval Arab medical writers were dealing with throat anatomy by way of analogy with the same fruit, and they settled on «pomegranate» as a name for the laryngeal protuberance. What inspired the name is unknown. Was it physical resemblance—did the texture of the skin of the pomegranate remind them of the texture of the skin covering the protuberance? Or was it something symbolic? The pomegranate has long been a potent symbol in literature and religion: the biblical King Solomon had an orchard of pomegranates; in Greek mythology, it was Persephone’s act of eating a single pomegranate seed in the underworld that doomed her forever to spend 1/3 of every year in Hades; and the prophet Muhammad reportedly recommended pomegranates: «Eat the pomegranate, for it purges the system of envy and hatred.»

Whatever the reason the medical writers had for calling the laryngeal protuberance a «pomegranate,» it’s likely that European writers saw that designation in its Latin translation, pomum granatum, and then applied the synonymous Latin pomum Adami to the same body part. The author of a late 16th century anatomical work reports that both pomegranate and Adam’s apple were being used in the common language to refer to the larynx: «…partem protuberantem, que malum granatum et pomum Adami barbaris dicitur constituit.» Other authors from the same time period also give pomum Adami as the Latinization of the vernacular name Adam’s apple. Proving that making up stories to explain word origins is nothing new, we have 300-year-old explanations that mirror the Internet’s current batch. An explanation by one John Purcell in 1707 goes as follows:

… an eminence or protuberance plain to be felt and seen in the neck, which several anatomists call Pomum Adami or, the Apple of Adam, from a vulgar superstitious notion that when Adam eat the forbidden Apple it stuck in his Throat, and that God to perpetuate the memory of this his offence plac’d the like protuberance in the throats of all his posterity; which is not quite so apparent in Women, because, say they, the Crime of Eve was less….»

To which we say: No, Mr. Purcell, it’s called an Adam’s apple because the Latin term that translates to English as «Adam’s apple» used to be a term for a pomegranate.

Um. But yes, Internet, that’s the real story. Hard to explain, maybe, but true.

One additional note: there’s another theory that says that pomum Adami is a translation of a Medieval Hebrew phrase tappūăḥ ha’ādhām, meaning «protuberance on a man,» and that this phrase was reinterpreted as «Adam’s apple.» We’re afraid that this theory, which dates to the 19th century, has no basis in fact: no such expression with this meaning has been located in pre-Modern Hebrew.

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What’s an Adam’s Apple?

You’re at the high school baseball game with your friends, and you see your big brother’s friend Justin in the dugout drinking from a water bottle. With every sip he takes, a big bump moves up and down on the front of his neck.

The boys your age don’t have bumps like that, you think to yourself. And come to think of it, neither do any of the girls you know, no matter how old they are. What’s going on here?

When kids hit puberty, their bodies and minds go through tons of changes. One change that every kid can count on is lots of body parts growing and changing shape. Almost every part gets in on the growing action, including the larynx (say: LAIR-inks).

Another name for the larynx is the voice box, and it’s in the throat. The larynx is what gives you your voice, whether you’re talking, laughing, whispering, singing, or shouting. You can find your larynx by touching the front of your throat and humming. When you feel vibrations under your fingers, you’ve found it!

When the larynx grows larger during puberty, it sticks out at the front of the throat. This is what’s called an Adam’s apple. Everyone’s larynx grows during puberty, but a girl’s larynx doesn’t grow as much as a boy’s does. That’s why boys have Adam’s apples. Most girls don’t have Adam’s apples, but some do. It’s no big deal either way.

But why is it called an Adam’s apple? If you think it’s called that after the story of the Garden of Eden where Adam ate a piece of the forbidden fruit that got stuck in his throat, you’re right. An Adam’s apple sometimes looks like a small, rounded apple just under the skin in the front of the throat.

This larger larynx also gives boys deeper voices. Actually, girls’ voices get a little bit deeper as their larynxes get larger, too. But because boys’ larynxes grow so much more, it makes their voices deeper than girls’ voices.

The larynx doesn’t grow to its new size overnight, though. If you’ve ever heard a teenage boy’s voice sound squeaky, you’ve heard a larynx trying to get adjusted to its new size!

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Why Do Men Have An Adam’s Apple, But Women Don’t?

The Adam’s apple is actually a chunk of bony cartilage that surrounds the larynx, i.e., the voice box. The reason it’s more prominent in men than in women is because during puberty, a man’s voice box tends to grow in size (much more than in women), so a noticeable bump appears right in the middle of the throat.

With just a cursory glance at an infant, not everyone can tell whether it’s a boy or girl. The differences in their appearance begin to show when they reach a few years in age, continuing until the time comes when you don’t even have to look at someone – just listening to their voice is enough to tell whether they’re a male or a female.

The point is that both the male and female bodies, which look quite similar at the outset, develop a number of physical attributes that easily differentiate them. However, for the scope of this article, we’re going to talk about only one.

Why Does The “Adam’s Apple” Have That Name?

Almost all of our body parts have names that somehow ‘sound’ biological: brain, heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys etc. Although it’s an entirely subjective statement, the name “Adam’s apple” definitely stands out. So, what’s with the weird name?

Actually, that’s exactly right. The Adam’s apple does have something to do with someone named Adam.

According to folklore, Adam – the first human according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions – had a piece of an apple (the forbidden fruit) stuck in his throat. All men, who are essentially the descendants of Adam (and Eve), have that lump in their throat as evidence of that event. That’s the fictional story behind why the Adam’s apple bears that name.

The Scientific Reason Behind The Adam’s Apple

The appearance of a prominent Adam’s apple has everything to do with larynx and thyroid cartilage.

The visible lump on the male neck is called the Adam’s apple. (Photo Credit : Wikipedia)

The larynx is an organ in the neck of mammals (and certain other organisms) that facilitates breathing, protects the trachea against food aspiration, and plays a critical role in sound production. Due to the last of the aforementioned reasons, it’s also commonly referred to as the voice box.

A diagram of the human larynx. Inside the larynx are the vocal cords, which help produce sound. (Photo Credit : ScienceABC)

Now, on the surface of the larynx, there are 6 type sections of cartilage (of which three are unpaired, while the remaining three are paired, which makes a total of 9 cartilage areas), which provide structural support to the larynx and make up the laryngeal skeleton (i.e., a skeleton around the larynx). Out of the unpaired cartilages, the thyroid cartilage is the largest and is directly responsible for the presence of the Adam’s apple.

Thyroid cartilage in the larynx (Photo Credit : Wikimedia Commons)

Both boys and girls are born with larynxes, but when boys hit puberty (a series of physical changes that occur in a child’s body as he or she develops into an adult), their voice box grows in size significantly more than in girls, as their testosterone levels increase. This results in the ‘cracking’ of boys’ voices and a prominent Adam’s apple.

Adam’s Apple in Women

Yes, women too can have Adam’s apple. In fact, both boys and girls are ‘born’ with an Adam’s apple, but it’s not as noticeable in women. This may be due to a number of reasons. It could be a genetic trait or an anatomical anomaly. Or it could not be an Adam’s apple at all; rather a physical growth on the neck due to some other medical condition.

Unfortunately, the presence of the Adam’s apple in women is sometimes considered ‘unwomanly’, as it’s commonly identified as a characteristic feature of adult men. This could potentially affect their sense of feminism in a negative way and hurt their self-confidence.

As a result, some people choose to undergo a surgery to have the size of their Adam’s apple reduced (the process is called chondrolaryngoplasty), which, like all surgeries, has some potential risks associated with it. Counseling can and does help women deal with the situation psychologically, without invasive surgery, and is therefore highly recommended.

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