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凤梨 (fèng lí) — pineapple (used mainly in Taiwan and some southern regions of China)

Definition

凤梨 is the everyday Mainland and Taiwan word for pineapple, distinguished from 菠萝 (bōluó) mainly by region — 凤梨 is standard in Taiwan and parts of southern China; 菠萝 is more common in northern Mainland usage.

noun
pineapple (used mainly in Taiwan and some southern regions of China)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 凤梨。
    Zhè zhǒng fèng lí bǐ bō luó gèng tián.
    This kind of pineapple is sweeter than the usual ones.
  • 凤梨，。
    Tái wān de fèng lí hěn yǒu míng, hěn duō rén xǐ huan.
    Taiwan's pineapples are famous and many people like them.
  • 凤梨。
    Wǒ zài chāo shì mǎi le liǎng gè fèng lí.
    I bought two pineapples at the supermarket.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

凤fèngphoenix
梨lípear

凤 gives a phoenix-like name, and 梨 compares the fruit to a pear.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鳳; 凤 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 鳳 pictures a bird with a prominent crest and tail feathers, likely a real peacock. The simplified 凤 is a later abbreviation.

Open 凤 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mù
Sound part声符shēngfú
利
利lì梨lí
Same sound today

梨 places 利 on top of 木, a tree, with 木 showing the tree sense and 利 giving the sound.

Open 梨 →
Appears in
Fruits

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