Bakeapples

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of fruit that resembles a small berry, often found in cooler climates and commonly used in jams and desserts
2. A common name for the cloudberry, characterized by its sweet flavor and yellow-orange hue
3. A wild fruit that grows in acidic soils, prized for its nutritional value and often harvested for culinary use

Etymology: "Bakeapples" is the plural of "bakeapple," a name for the cloudberry, a low-growing wild fruit of northern bogs and acidic soils that is prized in Newfoundland and Labrador. The name is probably a compound of "bake" and "apple," though the reason for the "bake" element is not settled. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests the first part was shaped by "bake" appearing in other compound words, rather than by any literal baking of the fruit. The most colourful explanation for the name is a folk etymology that treats it as a corruption of French "baie, qu'appelle," roughly "what's the name of that berry." It is a tempting story, but it is a popular invention rather than a documented origin, and the English compound is the more likely source.