'sweetsop' originates from English, specifically a compound of 'sweet' and 'sop', where 'sweet' meant 'having a pleasant taste' and 'sop' meant 'a piece of bread soaked in liquid'.

'sop' came from Old English 'soppa', and the compound 'sweet-sop' was used from early modern English both for a sweet morsel and later applied to the sugar-apple fruit; by extension it developed a figurative use for a weak or pampered person.

Initially it referred to 'a sweet soaked morsel' or the fruit, but over time it also evolved into a figurative meaning of 'a weak or overly sentimental person'.