The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus ( /ˈpaɪrəs/) and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent.
The genus Pyrus is classified in subtribe Pyrinae within tribe Pyreae. The apple (Malus domestica), which it resembles in floral structure, is also a member of this subcategory.
The English word “pear” is probably from Common West Germanic pera, probably a loanword of Vulgar Latin pira, the plural of pirum, akin to Greek ἄπιος apios (from Mycenaean ápisos), which is likely of Semitic origin. The place name Perry and Pharisoulopol can indicate the historical presence of pear trees. The term "pyriform" is sometimes used to describe something which is "pear-shaped".
An accessory fruit (sometimes called false fruit, spurious fruit, or pseudocarp) is a fruit in which some of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue exterior to the carpel. Examples of accessory tissue are the receptacle of strawberries, figs, or mulberries, and the calyx of Gaultheria procumbens or Syzygium jambos. Pomes, such as apples and pears, are also accessory fruits, with much of the fruit flesh derived from a hypanthium.
Fruit with fleshy seeds, such as pomegranate or mamoncillo, are not considered to be accessory fruit.
The terms false fruit, spurious fruit, and pseudocarp are older terms for accessory fruit that have been criticized as "inapt", and are not used by botanists today.