# What Do Other Languages Call the Adam's Apple **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114 "2013-07-21T16:05:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/1 "2013-07-21T16:05:01Z")
I’m particularly interested in what those languages lacking a Christian tradition call it, since references to Adam and his apple are meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/2 "2013-07-21T16:32:19Z")
I didn’t know this in Japanese, so I had to ask my partner. The word in Japanese is nodobotoké, which means ``` throat Buddha. ``` He also said that when people are cremated, that bone is always placed on top of the ashes. It’s held in such importance at least partly because the voice comes from there. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/3 "2013-07-21T16:40:15Z")
The Germans have cleverly gone with _Adamsapfel_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/4 "2013-07-21T17:59:33Z")
In Spanish it’s _la nuez_ (the word also means both “walnut” and “any generic nut”); officially _la nuez de Adán_ (Adam’s walnut), but I’ve heard the “Adam’s” part only in the context of describing men in drag. The article is important; since you’d never count Adam’s apples, saying _la nuez_ (the walnut) automatically distinguishes it from _una nuez_ (a nut, which would be the kind you eat). In Catalan I’ve heard my Catalan-first-language relatives call it _l’os del coll_ (the bone in the neck); a dictionary check tells me _la nou del coll_ (the (wal)nut in the neck). I checked the Elhuyar (the reference dictionary for Basque translations), since I didn’t know the word in Basque. It says _zintzur-korapilo, zintzur-sagar_; these amount respectively to “throat-knot” and “throat-apple”. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/5 "2013-07-21T18:27:42Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > He also said that when people are cremated, that bone is always placed on top of the ashes. 😕 Bone? ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/6 "2013-07-21T18:28:09Z")
In French (according to my French/English dictionary) it’s pomme d’Adam, which means Adam’s apple. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/7 "2013-07-21T20:37:56Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’m particularly interested in what those languages lacking a Christian tradition call it, since references to Adam and his apple are meaningless. The Adam myth is shared by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam so it’s entirely possible that cultures with no ties to Christianity are calling it an Adam’s Apple. ---
**Author:** ![Neverending\_Elbow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e274bd/32.png) [@Neverending\_Elbow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverending_Elbow)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/8 "2013-07-21T20:54:07Z")
In Polish it’s either _jabłko Adama_ which means - wyou’ve guessed it - Adam’s apple, or _grdyka_. All this etymological talk got me wondering and I found out it comes from old Polish words for choking and/or swallowing loudly. Probably shares a root with _krtań_, the Polish word for a larynx. ---
**Author:** ![kjbrasda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/74df32/32.png) [@kjbrasda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjbrasda)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/9 "2013-07-22T05:39:04Z")
> [@Just\_Ed](#): > > 😕 Bone? Possibly the hyoid? ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/10 "2013-07-22T05:55:08Z")
Online sources indicate that the Hindi word for it is Kanth-mani, which loosely translated would mean throat-gem. ---
**Author:** ![grama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/11 "2013-07-22T15:36:29Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > In Spanish it’s _la nuez_ (the word also means both “walnut” and “any generic nut”); officially _la nuez de Adán_ (Adam’s walnut), but I’ve heard the “Adam’s” part only in the context of describing men in drag. The article is important; since you’d never count Adam’s apples, saying _la nuez_ (the walnut) automatically distinguishes it from _una nuez_ (a nut, which would be the kind you eat). […] It’s always been ‘Manzana de Adán’ for me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/12 "2013-07-22T15:43:44Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > The Adam myth is shared by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam so it’s entirely possible that cultures with no ties to Christianity are calling it an Adam’s Apple. I realized that as soon as I hit “post,” but still- Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, etc. all lack a Christian tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/13 "2013-07-22T16:34:40Z")
> [@kjbrasda](#): > > Possibly the hyoid? I thought of that after I’d posted, but the hyoid does not form the [Adam’s apple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam%27s_apple); rather it is the thyroid cartilage that forms the distinctive lump. (But yes, that is probably what is being referred to.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/14 "2013-07-22T16:56:58Z")
In Welsh it’s _afal y gwddf_, “apple of the throat”. _Afal Adda_, “Adam’s apple,” refers to the plant [black bryony](http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/assets/0509/0000/0023/missing_143_mid.jpg). (The Breton for the body part is **aval-gouzoug** , which is etymologically the same as the Welsh and thus suggests the term has been around a while. They don’t seem to use “Adam’s Apple” for black bryony, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-other-languages-call-the-adams-apple/664114/15 "2013-07-22T17:05:45Z")
Russian - кадык (“kadyk”). No relation to Adam, apples, or anything really. Sounds somewhat turkic to me, so probably borrowed from there.