river pear

9.9

A Caribbean fruit like a mango often eaten pickled

noun

: pera de río

Many Caribbean dishes feature pickled river pears as a tangy side.

Examples

She described the flavor of a river pear as unique, somewhere between a mango and a plum.
The market stall was selling fresh river pears that had just been harvested.
I bought a river pear at the market.
Have you ever tried a river pear?
Many Caribbean dishes feature pickled river pears as a tangy side.
She described the flavor of a river pear as unique, somewhere between a mango and a plum.
The market stall was selling fresh river pears that had just been harvested.

Synonyms

anchovy pear

vsriver pear

9.9

A tree from the West Indies that makes a fruit like a mango often pickled to eat with meals

is a general West Indian mango-like fruit often eaten pickled rather than a tree

Surface Forms

river pear singular

river pears plural

Morphology

river + pear

The word 'pear' clearly marks the item as a fruit and 'river' functions as a modifier suggesting a subtype or origin (a pear associated with rivers), so learners who know both words will infer it denotes a kind of fruit. However, the specific sense — a West Indian, mango-like fruit often eaten pickled — is not fully predictable from the constituents, so the expression is only partly transparent.

Etymology

The noun river pear may come from Caribbean people who found a pear-shaped fruit growing by rivers, so the name joins river and pear. Since they often ate it 'pickled', today river pear means a West Indian fruit often served 'pickled'.