Why adams apple

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What is it? Why do they develop? Difference in males and females? Surgery and removal Can it be a sign of another condition? Exposure to air pollutants may amplify risk for depression in healthy individuals. Another name for the larynx is the voice box , and it's in the throat.

The larynx is what gives you your voice, whether you're talking, laughing, whispering, singing, or shouting. You can find your larynx by touching the front of your throat and humming. When you feel vibrations under your fingers, you've found it!

When the larynx grows larger during puberty, it sticks out at the front of the throat. This is what's called an Adam's apple. The name of the bump on the front of the neck—which is found in all humans but is usually more prominent in men—has nothing to do with Adam or Eve or the Garden of Eden. Note to self: eat more fruit.

The term Adam's apple or technically "laryngeal protuberance," formed by the largest cartilage of the larynx has been used in English since at least It goes by analogous names in other European languages, among them French pomme d'Adam ; the French also use morceau d'Adam —"Adam's morsel" ; Italian pomo d'Adamo ; and German Adamsapfel.

But decades before and after Adam's apple came to refer to that anatomical item, it was used as a term for several edible items of the fruit variety, among them plantains , pomelos , and citrons. This rather from a modern perspective, anyway willy-nilly application of the term was in keeping with a habit that dates at least to medieval times, when European writers used Latin variations on the same theme— pomum Adam , pomum Adami , Adami pomum , etc. The implication was likely that the vaunted fruit belonged in the category of those "fruits of Paradise" supposed to have been enjoyed in the long-lost Eden.

Meanwhile, medieval Arab medical writers were dealing with throat anatomy by way of analogy with the same fruit, and they settled on "pomegranate" as a name for the laryngeal protuberance. What inspired the name is unknown.