pear
Pluralpears
- 1The edible fruit of the pear tree, resembling an apple but usually narrowing toward the stem end.
He sliced a ripe pear over the salad.
Local orchards harvest pears in late September.
UsageSounds the same as pair (two of something) and pare (to peel), so check the spelling.
- 2A tree of the genus Pyrus in the rose family, grown for its edible fruit or for its flowers.
The old pear at the edge of the orchard is the tallest tree on the property.
A late frost damaged several pears just as their blossoms were opening.
- 3The wood of the pear tree, also known as pearwood or pear wood.
The recorder's body is turned from pear, which gives the instrument a warm, mellow tone.
Cabinetmakers sometimes stain pear black to imitate ebony.
UsageUse made of pear when naming the material. Pearwood is clearer when the fruit could be meant.
- 4The avocado; a green-skinned fruit also known as the alligator pear.
He cut a pear in half, removed the big round seed, and scooped out the green flesh.
With pears in season, the cook serves every plate of callaloo and fried dumplings with a slice of buttery green pear.
Similaravocado
Note
In Jamaican English the bare word names the avocado, known in full as the avocado pear or alligator pear. A visitor who asks for a pear may be handed the green, buttery fruit with its single large seed rather than the sweet orchard fruit. Outside Jamaica, avocado is the clearer word. Within a Jamaican conversation, the meal or the market usually settles which fruit is meant.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- An avocado can have green skin, buttery flesh and a single large seed. en.wikipedia.org
Less common meanings
- 5A desaturated chartreuse yellow, like the color of a ripe pear.
The designer chose pear for the accent wall, a muted shade between yellow and green.
Her scarf was a soft pear that looked almost gold in the lamplight.
- 6A pear-shaped metal device whose segments spread apart when a screw is turned, said to have been used as a gag or for torture; a choke pear.
The museum label calls the iron pear a torture device, though historians doubt it was ever used that way.
Among the museum's grimmer displays was a pear with hinged segments that spread when its screw was turned.
- 7A gem, most often a diamond, given a teardrop cut with one rounded end and one pointed end.
Practice
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Origin
Pear comes from Middle English "pere" and Old English "pere," going back through Proto-West Germanic *peru to Vulgar Latin "pira": originally the plural of Latin "pirum" but later treated as a feminine singular. The word was probably ultimately a loanword from an unknown Mediterranean substrate source, and it is related to Dutch "peer," German "Birne," and French "poire."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Pear derives from Middle English pere and Old English pere. en.wiktionary.org
- The derivation passes through reconstructed Proto-West Germanic *peru, borrowed from Vulgar Latin pira. en.wiktionary.org
- Pira was originally the plural of Latin pirum and was reinterpreted as a feminine singular. en.wiktionary.org
- The word probably ultimately comes from an unidentified Mediterranean substrate language. en.wikipedia.org
- Pear is etymologically related to Dutch peer, German Birne, and French poire. en.wiktionary.org