Forbidden fruit

Origin of: Forbidden fruit

Forbidden fruit

From at least The Middle Ages, this was the common expression for the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in spite of the warning from God not to do so. Refer the Bible Genesis 2:17. It has since acquired a figurative sense of any pleasure or pastime that can have adverse consequences. The Book of Genesis, however, does not use the phrase forbidden fruit. The first instance of any phrase close to it comes from Milton, Paradise Lost (1667) “fruit of that forbidden tree”. See also Adam’s apple.