Meaning
苹果 is the common word for apple, one of the most basic vocabulary items in Mandarin. It's a compound of two characters: 苹 (a type of duckweed or aquatic plant) and 果 (fruit). While the first character's original meaning is unrelated to apples, together they form the standard modern Chinese word for this fruit.
Usage
This is an everyday word used in all contexts, from grocery shopping to idioms. Native speakers use it to refer to the fruit itself, apple-flavored products, or metaphorically (like the tech company Apple). It's always used with measure words when counting.
Examples
- 01我每天早上都吃一个苹果。.I eat an apple every morning.
- 02这些苹果又大又甜。.These apples are big and sweet.
Characters
Measure words
- 个一个苹果
- 斤两斤苹果
Common collocations
- 苹果派apple pie
- 苹果汁apple juice
- 青苹果green apple
- 红苹果red apple
Origin
The character 苹 originally referred to duckweed, but was borrowed phonetically to transliterate the word for apple. 果 means fruit in general. Together they became the standard term for apple in modern Chinese.