猕猴桃 (míhóutáo) · kiwi fruit, Chinese gooseberry

Measure Word

一个猕猴桃 gè

Meanings

1 kiwi fruit
2 Chinese gooseberry

About the ingredient

水果 Fruit · In season: autumn

Egg-sized fruit with fuzzy brown skin and bright green or golden flesh dotted with tiny black seeds, sweet and sour. Usually bought hard in autumn and left to soften for a few days at room temperature; eaten raw or juiced.

Also called 奇异果

Characters

猕

mí

rhesus macaque (monkey)

Examples

HSK 2

我买了几个猕猴桃回来。

Wǒ mǎi le jǐ gè míhóutáo huílái.

I bought a few kiwi fruits.

HSK 7-9

猕猴桃富含维生素C。

Míhóutáo fùhán wéishēngsù C.

Kiwi fruit is rich in vitamin C.

Tips

memory

Literally 猕猴 (macaque monkey) + 桃 (peach). The kiwi's fuzzy brown skin resembles a monkey's fur, and it was said monkeys loved eating them, hence 'monkey peach'.

culture

The kiwi fruit originated in China's Yangtze River valley, where it grew wild. New Zealand commercialized and rebranded it as 'kiwi fruit' in the 20th century.