'applewife' originates from English, specifically a compound of 'apple' and 'wife', where 'apple' meant the fruit and 'wife' (Old English 'wīf') meant 'woman'.

'applewife' developed in Early Modern English as a compound word and was commonly used from the 16th to 19th centuries to refer to women who sold apples in markets or as street vendors.

Initially, it meant 'a woman who sells apples' and has largely retained that meaning, though the word 'wife' originally meant 'woman' and later narrowed in sense to 'married woman'.