Pear

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /pɛə/

Definitions

1. A sweet, rounded fruit that tapers toward the stem, typically with green, yellow, or brown skin and white flesh
2. A juicy, edible fruit that has a distinctive bell-like shape and smooth skin, commonly enjoyed for its sweet flavor and typically found in green or yellow varieties
3. A type of fruit characterized by its bell shape and smooth surface, commonly found in shades of green or yellow, known for being sweet and juicy

Etymology: The fruit's name arrived in English from a plural. The Latin "pirum" had a plural "pira", and Vulgar Latin speakers treated that plural ending as a singular feminine noun, so "pira" became the everyday word for the fruit. That reshaped word then travelled north into Germanic-speaking lands, where it became the Proto-West Germanic "peru" and eventually the Old English "pere". The original Latin word is itself a loanword from an unknown Mediterranean source, a language that no one has been able to identify. So the name of this fruit was borrowed before English existed, and its ultimate origin has been lost. Its many relatives across Europe, from German "Birne" to French "poire", all descend from the same ancient borrowing.

Synonyms: fruit, pome, nashi, Asian pear, butter pear