CHARACTER HOME PAGE

pear
Kanji 2086

Thank you for visiting this Character Home Page. Below you'll find a synopsis of the essay. If you wish to read the full text, the PDF of the essay is available for purchase to the right.

Synopsis

The Japanese pear is tough and spotted, inspiring fun terms that implicitly compare rough-hewn or polka-dotted entities to this fruit. (For example, a word for "avocado" breaks down as "alligator + pear"!) Moreover, 梨 pops up in words for pear-shaped things. See why this occurs even though a Japanese pear is round. Also find out why 梨園 means something extremely different from "pear garden."

Revision history:

Dec. 5, 2023: p. 5: Fixed broken links.

Oct. 27, 2023: p. 13: Deleted a stray period.

July 2, 2021: p. 15: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.

June 21, 2019: Originally published.

Comments

Add comment

Log in or register to post comments
Kanji PDF
Cover of essay 2086 on 梨 (pear), "Japanese Pears: Putting the Rough in Roughage"
Mini Profile
JOYO ON-YOMI
None
JOYO KUN-YOMI
なし
STROKES11
RADICAL木 (75: tree)
JLPTN1
HALPERN1757/2392
HENSHALL-/1815
SPAHN4a7.24