梨
pear
Kanji 2086
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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.