Translingual

Han character

梨 (radical 75 木+7, 11 strokes, cangjie input 竹弓木 (HND) or X竹弓木 (XHND), four-corner 2290₄, composition ⿱利木)

References

• KangXi: page 530, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14873
• Dae Jaweon: page 918, character 10
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1215, character 10
• Unihan data for U+68A8

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 梨
Large seal script	Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ril) : phonetic 利 ‎(OC *rids) + semantic 木.

Pronunciation

Definitions

梨

1. pear
2. ^†Alternative form of 剺 (“to cut”).

Synonyms

• 梨子 (lízi)

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. pear

Readings

• Goon: り (ri)
• Kan’on: り (ri)
• Kan’yōon: りん (rin)
• Kun: なし (nashi)
• Nanori: か (ka)

Etymology 1

梨 (nashi, ri, rin: the tree and the fruit.

From Old Japanese. Derivation unclear, with numerous theories. Two of the more common are given below.

• May be originally a compound of 中 ‎(na, hypothesized root of modern naka, “middle, center”) +‎ 白 ‎(shiro, “white”) in reference to the pale flesh of the fruit.

• Alternatively, may be originally a compound of 中 ‎(na, hypothesized root of modern naka, “middle, center”) +‎ 酢 ‎(su, “sour, acidic”) in reference to the way the flavor of the fruit becomes more astringent closer to the core.

梨 ‎(hiragana なし, katakana ナシ, romaji nashi)

1. a pear tree
2. a pear (the fruit)
3. more specifically, the Japanese pear or Asian pear, Pyrus pyrifolia

Derived terms

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as ナシ.

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 梨 ‎(*li). Compare modern Mandarin reading lí.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ɾi]

Affix

梨 ‎(hiragana り, romaji ri)

1. a pear tree
2. a pear (the fruit)
3. more specifically, the Japanese pear or Asian pear, Pyrus pyrifolia

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Alteration of ri reading.

/ri/ → /rin/

Pronunciation

• Kan'yōyomi
• IPA^(key): [ɾĩɴ]

Affix

梨 ‎(hiragana りん, romaji rin)

1. pear

Derived terms

References

1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

Korean

Hanja

梨 • ‎(ri>i) (hangeul 리>이, revised ri>i, McCune-Reischauer ri>i, Yale li>i)

1. pear

Vietnamese

Han character

梨 (lê, lệ)

1. pear