2595: crabapple Jan 22, 2022

Though crabapples are indeed a type of apple, they certainly don't have anything to do with crabs. This term never did in fact, and rather is from the Middle English 'crabbe' from an older Germanic root, which simply denoted any wild apple. This term, as mentioned, does now relate to a species in particular, but can still denote any wild or sour apple. Now, crab is applied to certain other names in order to indicate wild varieties of fruits.