the apple of someone's eye
3
4.8
- idiom
:
la niña de mis ojos
- I'm the apple of his eye.
Examples
-
You're the apple of my eye.
-
Ilya was the apple of Polina's eye.
Fiction book (1995) -
An only child, the apple of his eye.
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My brother was the apple of his eye.
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I was the apple of his eye.
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And I'm the apple of her eye.
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This woman is the apple of my eye, Master Copperfield.
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It didn't take a clairvoyant to realize that Pamela, blond, beautiful, and the apple of her parents' eyes, had grown up in a privileged world.
Fiction book (1995) -
My daughter is the apple of my eye, and I will always support her dreams.
-
For her parents, she has always been the apple of their eye, cherished above all else.
Synonyms
310
1.3
A person you care about deeply, like a family member or close friend
19
3.4
A person who is very much loved
1
4.4
A person or thing that someone loves and cares for more than others
A person someone loves most and who makes them very happy
A person you think is very good and kind
Antonyms
How Cherished
Surface Forms
Morphology
the + apple + of + someone's + eyes
The meaning 'a person who is cherished or highly valued' cannot be derived from the literal constituents 'apple' and 'eye' — there is no straightforward compositional link that a B1 learner would infer. Although comparable idioms exist in other languages (e.g. Spanish 'la niña de mis ojos'), this is a conventionalized, culture-specific metaphorical expression and thus unpredictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
The apple of someone's eye comes from a simple picture: people long ago called the dark, round centre of the eye the apple because it looked like a small fruit and the eye protected it. So saying someone is the apple of your eye means they are the small, precious person you 'cherish'.