梨 (lí) · pear

Meanings

1 pear

Characters

梨

lí

pear

Examples

HSK 3

秋天的梨特别甜。

Qiūtiān de lí tèbié tián.

Autumn pears are especially sweet.

HSK 5

这个梨很多汁。

Zhège lí hěnduō zhī.

This pear is very juicy.

HSK 7-9

冰糖炖梨可以治咳嗽。

Bīngtáng dùn lí kěyǐ zhì késou.

Steamed pear with rock sugar can cure a cough.

Tips

culture

In Chinese tradition, you should never split a pear with someone you care about, because 分梨 (split a pear) sounds exactly like 分离 (to separate). It is considered bad luck.

usage

冰糖炖梨 (rock sugar steamed pear) is a classic Chinese home remedy for coughs and sore throats.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Bottom 木 is the tree radical, the indexing component - a stylized drawing of trunk plus branches and roots. Anchors 梨 in the tree-fruit family alongside 桃 peach, 杏 apricot, 李 plum, 柿 persimmon. The radical tells you immediately that 梨 names something that grows on a tree, with the phonetic narrowing it down to pear.

phonetic

利 lì

sharp; profit

Top 利 supplies the sound - lì shifting to lí, a regular tone movement. 利 is 禾 grain + 刂 knife, an iconic sharp-edge compound. Its semantic role here is faint but real: a pear is a crisp, juicy fruit that the teeth slice cleanly through. Same phonetic family: 犁 plow, 莉 jasmine, 痢 dysentery.