Word
pear
US/ˈpɛɹ/
UK/pˈeə/
Definition
n. a sweet, juicy fruit that is usually narrow at the top and wider at the bottom. It has a thin skin that can be green, yellow, or brown.
n. the edible, pomaceous fruit of a tree in the genus Pyrus, typically characterized by a bulbous base and a tapering neck.
Examples
“I usually eat a fresh pear for my afternoon snack.”
“The chef served a dessert of sliced pear poached in red wine and topped with cinnamon.”
“While apples are often crisp and tart, this variety of pear is prized for its buttery texture and delicate floral aroma when perfectly ripe.”
Examples
simple
“I usually eat a fresh pear for my afternoon snack.”
contextual
“The chef served a dessert of sliced pear poached in red wine and topped with cinnamon.”
complex
“While apples are often crisp and tart, this variety of pear is prized for its buttery texture and delicate floral aroma when perfectly ripe.”
Usage
Refers to both the fruit and the tree itself.
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 Scots peer (“pear”), Saterland Frisian Peere, Pere (“pear”), West Frisian par (“pear”), Dutch peer (“pear”), Danish, Greenlandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk pære (“pear”), Faroese, Icelandic pera (“pear”), Swedish päron (“pear”), German Birne (“pear”), Luxembourgish Bier, Bir (“pear”), Vilamovian biyn (“pear”), Yiddish באַר (bar, “pear”), French poire (“pear”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/pear