Meaning
Eating healthy food, especially fruit and vegetables, on a regular basis helps a person stay well and avoid getting sick.
It is used to encourage healthy daily habits, especially good nutrition, as a simple way of preventing illness rather than needing medical treatment later.
Origin
The saying is a Welsh rhyming proverb first printed in an 1866 edition of the folklore journal Notes and Queries, in the slightly longer form Eat an apple on going to bed, and you will keep the doctor from earning his bread. The shorter, catchier version used today became especially popular in the early twentieth century as part of public health campaigns promoting fruit consumption.
Examples
My grandmother always says an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and she has barely been sick in years.
He started eating more fruit after his doctor reminded him that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
It is an old saying, but there is some truth to it: an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
A: Why do you always pack fruit for lunch?
B: An apple a day keeps the doctor away, or so my mother taught me.
Frequently asked questions
What does 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' mean?
Eating healthy food, especially fruit and vegetables, on a regular basis helps a person stay well and avoid getting sick.
It is used to encourage healthy daily habits, especially good nutrition, as a simple way of preventing illness rather than needing medical treatment later.