水果
shuǐguǒ · HSK 1
fruit
🍎🍇 水果 = water + fruit/result; 水 (water) + 果 (fruit)
果 alone means fruit or result; pairing it with 水 (water) specifies the juicy, edible kind. So 水果 literally reads as water-fruit, the everyday word for fresh fruit as opposed to dried or candied.
水 — pictograph of flowing water
水 is a pictograph depicting a stream of flowing water, with the central line representing the main current and the side strokes showing splashing droplets or ripples. In oracle bone script it was drawn even more clearly as a wavy vertical line with branches. It retains its original meaning of 'water' and also serves as a radical, often appearing in the compressed form 氵.
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'.
shuǐ guǒ · HSK 2
fruit
🍎🍇 水果 = water + fruit/result; 'watery results' of a tree = fruit
水 means water and 果 means fruit or result (the outcome of a plant). Together 水果 literally reads as 'water-fruit', the juicy edible fruits — as opposed to 干果 (dry fruits/nuts).
水 — pictograph of flowing water
水 is a pictograph depicting a stream of flowing water, with the central line representing the main current and the side strokes showing splashing droplets or ripples. In oracle bone script it was drawn even more clearly as a wavy vertical line with branches. It retains its original meaning of 'water' and also serves as a radical, often appearing in the compressed form 氵.
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'.