柿子

• Pinyin: shì zi
• Hanzi breakdown: 柿 = 木 + 市 (persimmon tree — tree radical + phonetic 市 indicating sound); 子 = noun suffix (originally 'child/seed', used broadly for small objects and fruits)

Meaning

Persimmon. An orange-red fruit with a smooth skin and sweet, sometimes astringent flesh, widely eaten in East Asia.

A beloved autumn fruit in China with deep cultural associations. Unripe persimmons contain tannins that cause intense astringency and must not be eaten before fully ripe. When dried, they become 柿饼 (dried persimmon cakes) coated in a white powdery sugar bloom. Cultural idiom: 捡软柿子捏 (to pick on the easy target — literally 'to squeeze the soft persimmon'). Popular varieties include 磨盘柿 and 火晶柿. Symbolically associated with good fortune (柿 sounds like 事 — matters/affairs), especially in the phrase 事事如意.

Examples

1. 深秋时节，村口那棵百年老柿子树挂满了橙红色的果实，一串串垂挂枝头，与湛蓝的天空构成了一幅令人心醉的乡村秋景图。 In late fall, the century-old persimmon tree at the village entrance was laden with orange-red fruit, hanging in clusters from the branches and forming a breathtaking rural autumn scene against the deep blue sky.
2. 未完全熟透的柿子因含有大量可溶性单宁酸而涩口难咽，须待果肉充分软化变甜后方可食用，否则还可能引起胃部不适。 Persimmons that aren’t fully ripe taste unbearably astringent because they contain large amounts of soluble tannins; they should be eaten only after the flesh has softened and turned sweet, otherwise they may cause stomach discomfort.
3. 当地自古便有将霜降后采摘的柿子晾晒成柿饼的传统，晒干后的柿饼外覆一层雪白的糖霜，口感甜糯绵软，是颇受欢迎的传统冬季零食。 The area has long had a tradition of drying persimmons picked after Frost’s Descent into dried persimmon cakes; after drying, the cakes are coated with a snowy white layer of sugar bloom, sweet and tender in texture, and a popular traditional winter snack.

Usage Guide

Context: food, nature, traditional culture, agriculture, idiom

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 柿子营养丰富，但空腹多吃易伤胃，医生建议一次只吃一两个。(Persimmons are nutritious, but eating too many on an empty stomach can harm the stomach, so doctors advise eating only one or two at a time.)
• 捡软柿子捏是指专挑弱者下手、欺软怕硬的行为。(Picking the soft persimmon to squeeze means targeting the weak and bullying those who are easy to push around.)

Don't Say

• 柿子 confused with 柿椒 (bell pepper) — 柿子 is persimmon, while 柿椒 or 甜椒 refers to bell peppers; the shared 柿 character reflects a historical naming convention based on physical resemblance, but the two fruits are botanically unrelated

Origin & History

柿 (persimmon tree — 木 wood/tree + 市 phonetic) + 子 (noun suffix indicating fruit or object)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal