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facets-and-rainbows · 2 months ago

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Kanji: 果

The kanji for "fruit" is a handy little pictogram of a tree 木 with a big fat fruit drawn in on top.

Readings and vocabulary

果 is pronounced か in most compounds, and means either literal fruit or the result of something (aka the figurative fruits of your labor.) This is the most common reading/meaning since a lot of these words are used frequently:

果実（かじつ） fruit/nut/berry (実 fruit/berry)

果汁（かじゅう） fruit juice (汁 juice, broth)

果物（odd reading くだもの） fruit (物 thing)

結果（けっか） result, outcome (結 tie, bind)

効果（こうか）effect, efficacy (効 effective)

成果（せいか） accomplishment, achievement, good outcome (成 become/make/achieve)

It's also used for two verbs related to results/finishing, in which case it's read は with a た or て immediately after it:

果たす（はたす） finish, achieve, accomplish, carry out (transitive, like 目的を果たす to achieve a goal)

果てる（はてる）end, be finished, be exhausted, perish (intransitive)

果たして, the て form of 果たす (finish or achieve something) can be used like an adverb, and it means something like "Ultimately..." or "In the end..." or "As expected, the end result was..." It's very often used in rhetorical questions showing doubt, like 果たして真実なのだろうか "But is it really the truth (in the end)?"

Meanwhile 果てる likes to be in compound verbs, where it means "completely/utterly" or "to the extreme," usually with negative connotations:

疲れ果てる（つかれはてる）be utterly exhausted (疲れる be tired)

変わり果てる（かわりはてる）be completely transformed, change beyond recognition (a change for the worse - for example, a person's 変わり果てた姿 "utterly changed form" generally means their dead and possibly rotting body) (変わる change)

朽ち果てる（くちはてる）rot away, crumble to dust (朽ちる decay)

And finally 果て, the noun form of 果てる, means "end" or "extremity" or "limit," i.e. the point you reach when you've done the verb 果てる. It can be spelled 果て with the て or 果 without, and is pronounced はて either way. It also appears in the adjective 果てしない "endless, boundless, eternal" (literally "not ending/not having limits")

As a phonetic element

果 is also used as a component in other kanji, most of which share the Chinese-derived reading か, the most common one being 課: