BeginChinese
every character tells a story
The ancient form
Today

guǒ · gwo2

fruit; result

Where it comes from

A tree you already know — 木 — with three round fruits clustered at its top, exactly where an orchard tree carries its harvest. Over the centuries those fruit-circles squared off into the boxy shape sitting on 木 today, but the picture is still legible: fruit growing on a tree.

A piece of culture

The lychee express
Tang dynasty consort Yang Guifei loved fresh lychees (荔枝) so much that the emperor set up a relay of galloping horses to rush baskets of them over a thousand li from the south, so the fruit was still fresh when it reached the palace. The poet Du Mu later mocked the cost of her craving in one sharp line: "a lone rider, red dust rising, the consort smiles — no one knows it is lychees that come." 果 has meant more than food ever since: 结果 uses it for "result", because in Chinese, ideas bear fruit the same way trees do.

Use it in a real word

水果
shuǐguǒ ·
fruit — literally "water fruit"; you already know 水
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