pear

English

Photo of a pair of pears on a tree

Etymology

From Middle English pere, from Old English pere, from Proto-West Germanic *peru, from Vulgar Latin *pira, originally the plural of Latin pirum but reconstrued as a feminine singular, ultimately a loanword from an unknown Mediterranean substrate source. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Peere (“pear”), Dutch peer (“pear”), Danish pære (“pear”), French poire (“pear”), German Birne (“pear”), Icelandic pera (“pear”), Swedish päron (“pear”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɛə/, [pʰeə]

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: pâr, IPA^(key): /pɛɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːə(r)/
• Homophones: pair, pare
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

Noun

pear (plural pears)

1. An edible fruit produced by the pear tree, similar to an apple but typically elongated towards the stem.
2. A type of fruit tree (Pyrus communis).

   Synonym: pear tree

3. The wood of the pear tree (pearwood, pear wood).
4. Choke pear (a torture device).
5. (Jamaica) avocado, alligator pear
6. A desaturated chartreuse yellow colour, like that of a pear.

   pear:  

Hypernyms

• (edible fruit): fruit, pome

Hyponyms

edible fruit or type of fruit tree

• anchovy pear (Grias cauliflora)
• apple pear (Pyrus pyrifolia)
• Asian pear (Pyrus pyrifolia)
• balsam pear (Momordica charantia, Citrullus lanatus)
• Bradford pear
• butter pear
• cactus pear (Opuntia spp.)
• Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana)
• Chinese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia)
• Chinese white pear (Pyrus × bretschneideri)
• choke pear
• common pear (Pyrus communis)
• European pear (Pyrus communis)
• garlic pear (Crateva spp.)
• grape pear (Amelanchier canadensis)
• hard pear (Olinia ventosa)
• Japanese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia)
• Korean pear (Pyrus pyrifolia)
• Le Conte pear
• Malvern pear
• Moorcroft pear
• nashi pear
• sand pear (Pyrus pyrifolia))
• snow pear (Pyrus nivalis)
• snowy pear
• Stinking Bishop pear
• strawberry pear (Stenocereus (syn. Hylocereus) spp.)
• sugar pear
• Taiwan pear, Taiwanese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia))
• vegetable pear (Sechium edule)
• vine pear
• wax pear
• willowleaf pear, willow-leafed pear (Pyrus salicifolia)

 

Derived terms

• alligator pear
• and a partridge in a pear tree
• apples and pears
• avocado pear
• butter pear
• Catherine pear
• choke pear
• desert pear
• go pear shaped
• go pear-shaped
• go pear-shaped, pear-shaped
• musk pear
• pear apple
• pear blight
• pear cider
• pear drop
• pear-encrinite
• pear-gauge
• pear gauge
• pear haw (Crataegus spp.)
• pear leaf blister mite (Eriophyes pyri)
• pear leaf blister moth (Leucoptera malifoliella)
• pear leaf-curling midge, pear leaf midge
• pearlike
• pear louse
• pear midge (Contarinia pyrivora)
• pearmonger
• pear of anguish
• pear orchard
• pear oyster scale (Pseudaulacaspis pentagona)
• pear plum
• pear psylla (Psylla pyri)
• pear quince
• pear shell
• pear slug (Caliroa cerasi)
• pear-sucker
• pear-thorn
• pear thrips (Taeniothrips inconsequens)
• pear tomato
• pear tree, peartree, Pear Tree
• pear wine
• pear-wise
• pear-withe
• pear-wood
• peary
• perry
• Pope's pear
• prickly pear cactus
• prickly pear (Opuntia spp.)
• river pear
• sea pear
• tiger pear
• wooden pear
• woody pear

 

Descendants

• →⇒ Chinese: 啤梨 (pílí)
• →⇒ Khmer: ផ្លែភា (phlae phiə)
• → Sotho: pere
• → Thai: แพร์ (pɛɛ)
• → Tokelauan: pea
• → Xhosa: ipere

Translations

fruit

• Abkhaz: аҳа (aḥa)
• Afrikaans: peer (af)
• Albanian: dardhë (sq) f
• Apache:

  Jicarilla: béela

• Arabic: كُمَّثْرَى f (kummaṯrā), إِجَّاص m (ʔijjāṣ)

  Egyptian Arabic: كمترة f (kummitra) (collective), كمتراية f (kummitrāya) (singulative)

  Gulf Arabic: عرموط m (ʕarmūṭ)

  Hijazi Arabic: كُمِّثْرَى f (kummitra)

  Moroccan Arabic: بوعويد (buʕwīd), إجاص (ijjāṣ)

  South Levantine Arabic: إنجاص m (injāṣ)

• Aragonese: pera (an) f
• Armenian: տանձ (hy) (tanj)
• Aromanian: pearã f
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܟܘܼܡܵܬܪܵܐ m (kumatra)
• Asturian: pera (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: armud (az)
• Basque: udare (eu), madari (eu), txermen (eu)
• Belarusian: гру́ша f (hrúša)
• Bengali: নাশপাতি (bn) (naśpati)
• Breton: per (br) (collective noun), perenn (br) f sg
• Bulgarian: кру́ша (bg) f (krúša)
• Burmese: သစ်တောသီး (my) (sactau:si:)
• Catalan: pera (ca) f
• Cebuano: peras
• Chechen: кхор (qor)
• Cherokee: ᏗᎦᏛᏗ (digadvdi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 梨 (lei^4-2), 雪梨 (syut³ lei^4-2) (Chinese white pear), 沙梨 (sa¹ lei^4-2) (Asian pear/nashi pear), 啤梨 (be¹ lei^4-2) (European pear)

  Dungan: ли (li), лир (lir)

  Hakka: 梨仔 (lì-é)

  Hokkien: 梨 (lâi), 梨仔 (lâi-á)

  Mandarin: 梨 (zh) (lí), 梨子 (zh) (lízi)

  Wu: 梨 (⁶li)

• Cornish: peren f
• Czech: hruška (cs) f
• Dalmatian: paira f
• Danish: pære (da) c
• Dhivehi: ނާޝްޕަތީ (dv) (nāšpatī)
• Dutch: peer (nl) f
• Elfdalian: pärun n
• Esperanto: piro (eo)
• Estonian: pirn (et)
• Faroese: pera f
• Finnish: päärynä (fi)
• French: poire (fr) f
• Friulian: piruç m, piruč
• Galician: pera (gl) f
• Georgian: მსხალი (msxali)
• German: Birne (de) f

  Alemannic German: Biire f

• Greek: αχλάδι (el) n (achládi)

  Ancient: ἄπιον n (ápion), ἀχράς f (akhrás)

• Greenlandic: pære
• Gujarati: પિઅર (piara), નાસપતી (nāsaptī)
• Hebrew: אַגָּס (he) m (agás)
• Hindi: नाशपाती (hi) f (nāśpātī)
• Hungarian: körte (hu)
• Icelandic: pera (is) f
• Ido: piro (io)
• Indonesian: pir (id)
• Ingush: кхор (qor)
• Irish: piorra (ga) m, péire m
• Italian: pera (it) f
• Japanese: 梨 (ja) (なし, nashi)
• Kalmyk: кедмн (kedmn)
• Kannada: ಪೇರಳೆ (pēraḷe), ಮರಸೇಬು (marasēbu)
• Karok: vírusur
• Kazakh: алмұрт (almūrt)
• Khalaj: amrût
• Khmer: ភា (km) (phiə), ផ្លែភា (phlae phiə), សារី (km) (saarii)
• Korean: 서양배 (seoyangbae), 배 (ko) (bae)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھەرمێ (hermê)

  Laki: مەروو (merû)

  Northern Kurdish: hirmî (ku) f, karçîn (ku) f

  Southern Kurdish: ئەمروو (emrû)

• Kyrgyz: алмурут (ky) (almurut)
• Lao: ໝາກຈອງ (lo) (māk chǭng)
• Latin: pirum n
• Latvian: bumbieris (lv) m, krausis m
• Lezgi: чуьхвер (čüχ°er)
• Lithuanian: kriaušė (lt) f
• Livonian: bumbīer
• Low German: Beer (nds) f
• Luxembourgish: Bir (lb) f
• Macedonian: круша f (kruša)
• Malagasy: poara (mg)
• Malay: pear, pir (ms)
• Malayalam: സബർജൽ (sabaṟjal)
• Maltese: lanġasa f
• Manchu: ᡧᡠᠯᡥᡝ (šulhe)
• Manx: peear f
• Maori: pea (mi)
• Marathi: नाशपाती (nāśpātī)
• Middle English: pere
• Mingrelian: სხული (sxuli)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: лийр (mn) (liir), алим (mn) (alim) (China)

  Mongolian: ᠯᠢᠢᠷ (liir), ᠠᠯᠢᠮ᠎ ᠠ (alim--a)

• Navajo: bilasáana bitseeʼ nineezígíí, bitseeʼ hólóní
• Neapolitan: piro m
• Norman: (Jersey) paithe f, (France) peire f, (Guernsey) père f
• Northern Sami: peara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pære (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: pære f

• Occitan: pera (oc) f
• Old English: peru f
• Ossetian: кӕрдо (kærdo)
• Ottoman Turkish: آرمود (armud)
• Pashto: ناک (ps) m (nāk)
• Persian:

  Dari: ناک (fa) (nāk)

  Iranian Persian: گلابی (fa) (golâbi), امرود (fa) (amrud), ارمود (armud) (dialectal)

• Plautdietsch: Kruschkje f
• Polish: gruszka (pl) f
• Portuguese: pera (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਨਾਖ f (nākh), ਨਾਸ਼ਪਾਤੀ (pa) f (nāśpātī)
• Romani: ambrol m
• Romanian: pară (ro) f
• Romansch: pair m, paira f
• Russian: гру́ша (ru) f (grúša)
• Sangisari: امبورو (amburu)
• Sardinian: pira f
• Saterland Frisian: Peere f
• Scots: peer
• Scottish Gaelic: peur f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: крушка f

  Roman: kruška (sh) f

• Shor: албырт (albırt)
• Sinhalese: පෙයා (peyā)
• Slovak: hruška (sk) f
• Slovene: hruška (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kšuška f

  Upper Sorbian: krušwa f

• Sotho: pere (st)
• Spanish: pera (es) f
• Swahili: pea (sw)
• Swedish: päron (sv) n, pära (sv) c
• Tabasaran: жихир (žiꭓir)
• Tagalog: peras (tl)
• Tajik: мурӯд (murüd), ношпотӣ (nošpoti), нок (tg) (nok)
• Talysh: (Anbarani) آمبو (âmbu), (Asalemi) خج (xəj), (Asalemi) امبلو (ambəlu), (Asalemi, Masali) گلابی (golâbi), (Masali) گلاوی (golâvi)
• Tamil: பேரிக்காய் (ta) (pērikkāy), பேரி (ta) (pēri)
• Taos: pèroʼóna
• Tatar: груша (gruşa), армут (armut)
• Telugu: పియర్ (piyar), బేరీ (bērī)
• Thai: ลูกแพร์ (lûuk-pɛɛ)
• Tibetan: ལི (li)
• Tigrinya: ፔረ (perä)
• Turkish: armut (tr), kertme (tr), ahlat (tr)
• Turkmen: armyt (tk)
• Ukrainian: гру́ша (uk) f (hrúša)
• Urdu: ناشپاتی f (nāśpātī)
• Uyghur: ئامۇت (amut)
• Uzbek: nok (uz), olmur
• Venetian: péro, per (vec) m
• Vietnamese: lê (vi), quả lê, trái lê
• Vilamovian: biyn f
• Volapük: bün (vo)
• Walloon: poere (wa) f
• Welsh: gellygen (cy) f, peren (cy) f
• West Flemish: peire f
• West Frisian: par
• Yiddish: באַר m (bar)
• Zhuang: makleiz

tree

• Albanian: dardhë (sq) f
• Arabic: كُمَّثْرَى f (kummaṯrā)
• Armenian: տանձենի (hy) (tanjeni)
• Aromanian: per
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܝܼܠܵܢܵܐ ܟܘܼܡܵܬܪܵܐ m (īlana d-kumatra)
• Asturian: peral (ast) m or f
• Azerbaijani: armud ağacı (az)
• Basque: udareondo (eu), madariondo (eu)
• Belarusian: гру́ша f (hrúša)
• Bulgarian: кру́ша (bg) f (krúša)
• Catalan: perera f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 梨樹／梨树 (zh) (líshù)

• Czech: hrušeň (cs) f
• Dutch: perenboom (nl) m
• Esperanto: pirarbo (eo), pirujo
• Estonian: pirnipuu (et)
• Finnish: päärynä (fi), päärynäpuu (fi)
• French: poirier (fr) m
• Friulian: piruçâr m, piručâr
• Galician: pereira (gl) f
• German: Birnbaum (de) m, Birne (de) f
• Greek: αχλαδιά (el) f (achladiá)

  Ancient: ἄπιος f (ápios)

• Hungarian: körtefa (hu)
• Icelandic: perutré n
• Italian: pero (it) m
• Kalmyk: кедмн (kedmn)
• Korean: 배나무 (baenamu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دار ھەرمێ (dar hermê)

  Northern Kurdish: darhirmî f, hirmî (ku) f

• Latin: pirus f
• Latvian: bumbiere (lv) f, krause f
• Lithuanian: kriaušė (lt) f
• Livonian: bumbīerpū
• Luxembourgish: Birebam m
• Macedonian: круша f (kruša)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pæretre n

  Nynorsk: pæretre n

• Occitan: perièr (oc)
• Old English: piriġe f
• Polish: grusza (pl) f
• Portuguese: pereira (pt) f
• Romani: ambrolin f
• Romanian: păr (ro) m
• Romansch: pairer
• Russian: гру́ша (ru) f (grúša)
• Scots: peer
• Scottish Gaelic: peur f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: крушка f

  Roman: kruška (sh) f

• Shor: албырт (albırt)
• Slovak: hruška (sk) f
• Slovene: hruška (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kšuška f

• Spanish: peral (es) m
• Swedish: päronträd (sv)
• Turkish: armut (tr)
• Ukrainian: гру́ша (uk) f (hrúša)
• Venetian: perèr (vec) m
• Vietnamese: cây lê
• Volapük: bünep (vo), bünabim (vo)
• Walloon: poerî (wa) m

wood of the pear tree

• Finnish: päärynäpuu (fi)
• German: Birnenholz n, Birnbaumholz n, Birnholz n

See also

• warden

Anagrams

• Earp, Pera, Rape, aper, pare, prae-, præ-, rape, reap

Galician

Peares or poldras across the river Ulla

Peares or poldras across the river Verdugo

Alternative forms

• piar

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *pilare, from Latin pīla (“pillar”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈaɾ/

Noun

pear m (plural peares)

1. pillar

   Synonym: columna

2. window sill

   Synonym: peitoril

3. one of several stone pillars placed by way of a bridge

   Synonym: poldra

Related terms

• Os Peares

References

• Ernesto González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “pear”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “piar”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• “pear” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “pear” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “piar” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Jamaican Creole

One pear cut inna two.

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʲeɹ/
• Hyphenation: pear

Noun

pear (plural pear dem, quantified pear)

1. avocado

   Mi waan sum ackee an pear.

   I'd like a few akees and avocados.

See also

• ackee

Further reading

• Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 434

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian pār, ultimately from Latin pār.

Noun

pear n (plural pearen, diminutive pearke)

1. pair, couple

Further reading

• “pear”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011