Word.ws English Dictionary

Big Apple

/ˈbɪˌɡæ.pəl/

Big Apple proper noun: nickname for New York City: a major city in New York, United States.

Proper noun

the Big Apple

  1. Nickname for New York City: a major city in New York, United States.
    • Sharon, I left my man
      At a North Dakota junction
      And I came out to the Big Apple here
      To face the dream's malfunction1976, “Song for Sharon”, in Hejira, performed by Joni Mitchell

Origin of Big Apple

Popularized by John J. Fitz Gerald in horse-racing articles in the 1920s - an apple being a treat for a horse, and New York being a prize location for horse-racing at the time. From usage among African American stable hands. See the Wikipedia article. The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There's only one Big Apple. That's New York.

Questions about Big Apple

What does Big Apple mean?
Big Apple means nickname for New York City: a major city in New York, United States.
What part of speech is Big Apple?
Big Apple is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Big Apple?
Big Apple is pronounced /ˈbɪˌɡæ.pəl/.

Words near Big Apple in the dictionary

  1. Big Ambergris Cay
  2. big and bad
  3. big and tall
  4. big and ugly enough
  5. Big Ange
  6. Big Apple
  7. big as a barn
  8. big as a house
  9. big as bull-beef
  10. big as the Beatles
  11. big ask

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Big Apple (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q7976 (mis)-BFDICream-Big Apple.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Big Apple.wav.

Cite this entry: “Big Apple.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/big_apple. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.