Little Moon Chinese

Fruits in Chinese worksheet

Apples, bananas, watermelon and grapes: practise writing the fruit names kids ask for at snack time.

The fruits on this page

Most fruit names in Chinese are two characters long, and many end in 果 (guǒ, fruit) or 子 (zi, a common ending). Learning them is a nice way to see how Chinese builds words from parts.

  • 苹果 píngguǒ: apple
  • 香蕉 xiāngjiāo: banana, literally “fragrant banana plant”
  • 西瓜 xīguā: watermelon, literally “western melon”, because it came to China from the west
  • 葡萄 pútao: grapes
  • 草莓 cǎoméi: strawberry, literally “grass berry”
  • 樱桃 yīngtáo: cherry
  • 橙子 chéngzi: orange
  • 柠檬 níngméng: lemon
  • 芒果 mángguǒ: mango
  • 桃 táo: peach, and 梨 lí: pear
  • 水果 shuǐguǒ: fruit, literally “water fruit”

Start with the easy ones

Fruit names have a lot of strokes. 蕉 has fifteen. So it helps to begin with the Easy set: 瓜 (melon), 桃 (peach), 梨 (pear) and 果 (fruit). 果 is especially worth learning first, because it appears in 苹果, 芒果 and 水果. It is a tree (木) with fruit on top (田), and children can draw it as a picture before writing it.

Radicals that give clues

  • 艹 (grass, plant) sits on top of 苹, 蕉, 葡, 萄, 草, 莓 and 芒. Most plant foods have it.
  • 木 (tree) is on the left of 桃, 樱, 橙, 柠 and 檬. These grow on trees.

Ask your child: does a strawberry grow on a tree or on the ground? Then check which radical 莓 has. It is a quick lesson in how characters carry meaning. See the radicals worksheet for more.

Snack-time activities

  1. Fruit shop. Set up a pretend shop. Your child writes price tags in Chinese for each fruit: 苹果 3元.
  2. Lunchbox notes. Put a small card in the lunchbox with the fruit’s name. Your child reads it before eating.
  3. Colour match. Combine with the colours worksheet: 红苹果, 黄香蕉, 紫葡萄.
  4. Shopping list. Before a trip to the supermarket, your child writes the fruits you need.
  5. Taste test. Line up three fruits. Your child tastes each with eyes closed and points to the character.

Suggested settings

Because fruit names are two characters, medium boxes with three tracing boxes fit a whole set neatly on one page. For children under six, switch to the Easy set with large boxes. Turn on pinyin so children can read the word aloud as they write it.

Questions parents ask

Why does 西瓜 have 西 (west) in it?

Watermelons reached China from Central Asia, to the west, more than a thousand years ago. Several foods are named the same way, like 西红柿 (tomato).

Can I add vegetables?

Yes. Type any food words into the box, for example 米饭, 面条 or 鸡蛋.

How to print this worksheet

  1. Pick a set with the buttons above, or type your own characters into the box.
  2. Choose A4 or US Letter to match your printer paper.
  3. Press Print or save as PDF. In the print window choose your printer, or “Save as PDF” to keep a copy.

Your settings are saved in the page address, so you can bookmark it or send the link to another parent or teacher and they will see the same worksheet.

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