果树
guǒ shù · HSK 6
fruit tree
🍎🌳 果 (fruit) + 树 (tree) = fruit tree — literal compound
Both halves do exactly what they say: 果 means fruit (as in 水果 shuǐguǒ) and 树 means tree. Stack them and you get a tree that bears fruit. One of the most transparent compounds in Chinese.
果 — fruit shape 田-like top + tree 木
果 is a pictograph: early forms show a tree (木) with round fruit hanging on its branches, later stylized into the 田-like top. Its original meaning was 'fruit', which extended to 'result, outcome' — the fruit of an action — and to 'resolute, decisive'.
树 — wood 木 + 對 (phonetic, simplified to 对)
树 originally combined 木 'tree' with 尌, suggesting planting something upright. The right side served mainly as a phonetic clue, while 木 carried the meaning. Over time it came to mean both 'tree' and the verb 'to plant' or 'establish'.