kiwi - gender

[Etcetera]

Ciàu,

In Russian, the word "kiwi" has two meanings: it may mean a bird or a fruit. Kiwi bird is feminine in Russian, but kiwi fruit can be either masculine or neuter - it seems that it depends on the speaker's preferences.

How it is in your language?

 

[irene.acler]

Ciao!
In Italian kiwi can be a bird or a fruit, as well. In both cases the word is masculine.

 

[StefKE]

Ciao!
In Italian kiwi can be a bird or a fruit, as well. In both cases the word is masculine.

It is the same in French .

 

[Outsider]

The Portuguese word is quivi (sometimes it's spelled kiwi, but everyone pronounces it "quivi").

As the name of a fruit, it's masculine. As the name of a bird, I only recall hearing it in the masculine too, though this word could easily be epicene (of both genders).

 

[Q-cumber]

Etcetera

According to the Russian Spelling Dictionary, kiwi-bird belongs to the male gender:

киви 1 и киви-киви, нескл., м. (птица)

киви 2, нескл., м. и с. (дерево и плод его)

By the way, Kiwi is also a colloquial term (the self-name) for the people of NZ. It is widely used in New Zealand newspapers and so on.

 

[ErOtto]

Ciàu,

In Russian, the word "kiwi" has two meanings: it may mean a bird or a fruit...

Hi etc.,

kiwi has many more meanings, but all derivate from the bird. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwi_(disambiguation)

Kiwi fruit originally comes from China, not NZ.

But, to your question:

In Spanish bird and fruit are male.

Regards
ErOtto

 

[Frank06]

Hi,

In Dutch, both the fruit and the bird are masculin.

Groetjes,

Frank

 

[Outsider]

By the way, Kiwi is also a colloquial term (the self-name) for the people of NZ. It is widely used in New Zealand newspapers and so on.

I think that meaning of "kiwi" is only common in the English language.

 

[Lemminkäinen]

The fruit is masculine, as is the bird (though it's apparently spelled kivi).

 

[Whodunit]

Ciàu,

In Russian, the word "kiwi" has two meanings: it may mean a bird or a fruit. Kiwi bird is feminine in Russian, but kiwi fruit can be either masculine or neuter - it seems that it depends on the speaker's preferences.

How it is in your language?

Funnily, in German it's the other way round.

A kiwi bird is masculine (der Kiwi) and the fruit is feminine (die Kiwi). The neuter gender is not used for the word "Kiwi," though.

 

[Henryk]

I think that meaning of "kiwi" is only common in the English language.

No, in German it's used for them as well.

 

[Outsider]

Well, then what is its gender?

 

[Henryk]

It's mostly used in the plural, "die Kiwis".

The singular (der Kiwi masculine) should be avoided due to the possibility to be confused with the bird.

 

[Jana337]

In Czech:

Kiwi (bird) - masculine (but it took me a while to convince myself )
Kiwi (fruit) - neutral

 

[Tolovaj_Mataj]

The fruit is masculine, as is the bird (though it's apparently spelled kivi).

All the very same in Slovene.

 

[Q-cumber]

I think that meaning of "kiwi" is only common in the English language.

I don't think so. Indeed, this meaning of the word might be not so common, but this is because we don't talk about Diggers that often. However, a sportive TV commentator most probably would call NZ athletes "Kiwis".

 

[Outsider]

You mean in Russian?... Not in Portuguese.

 

[Whodunit]

No, in German it's used for them as well.

Well, Outsider said that it was "common" in English. I don't think it is very common an expression in German. I've never used it myself ... maybe because I don't often speak about New Zealanders?

 

[Whodunit]

You mean in Russian?... Not in Portuguese.

I think he was talking about the usage in English. As I said, in German it is used, but not very common.

 

[Q-cumber]

You mean in Russian?... Not in Portuguese.

Yep, I meant in Russain.

КАКОГО РОДА КИВИ? (Which gender is kiwi? A linguistic article)

Что такое киви, мы узнали, когда среди экзотических фруктов на рынках и в магазинах появился этот заморский плод. И хочется спросить: "А какое это киви - сладкое или кислое?". Мы согласовали прилагательные с незнакомым словечком по среднему роду и не ошиблись. -------->

 

[apmoy70]

In Greek the fruit is called «ακτινίδιο» [aktiˈniði.o] and it's neuter, while the untranslated name of the bird is «κίβι» [ˈcivi] also neuter.
If however one prefers to use the translated name of the bird, then «απτέρυγας» [apˈteɾiɣas] or (archaism) «απτέρυξ» [apˈteɾik͡s] is masculine.

 

[Dymn]

Both senses are masculine in Catalan and Spanish.

 

[ilocas2]

Czech:

kivi (bird) - masculine
kiwi (fruit) - neuter

 

[Gavril]

Icelandic kíví is masculine when referring to the bird, and neuter when referring to the fruit. (There might be some variability, but that is the gender usage I've seen.)

The bird is often called by the longer word kíví-fugl ("kiwi bird"), and since fugl is masculine, this may have influenced the gender of kíví as well. Likewise, the phrase kíví-aldin ("kiwi fruit") is sometimes used for the fruit, and aldin is neuter.

 

[spindlemoss]

Welsh ciwi, Irish cíobhaí and Manx keewee are all masculine but Scottish Gaelic kiwi seems to be feminine.

 

[ilocas2]

Upper Sorbian:

kiwi (bird) - masculine
kiwi (fruit) - feminine

 

[nimak]

Macedonian

For many Macedonians the word for the fruit kiwi, in Macedonian spelled киви (kivi) ['kivi] looks like a plural form, so they use кива (kiva) ['kiva] for the singular form, which is feminine gender. So, in everyday communication the most used forms for this fruit are: кива (kiva) fem. sg.; киви (kivi) pl. Just compare it with the Macedonian word for "plum" слива (sliva) fem. sg., сливи (slivi) pl.

On the other hand, linguists say the proper forms should be: киви (kivi) neuter gender singular; кивија (kivija) ['kivija] plural. These forms are used for the bird too.

 

[Zareza]

In Romanian it is pronounced /kivi/

kiwi (bird) - feminine invariable

kiwi (fruit) - neuter invariable - un kiwi / două kiwi = one kiwi / two kiwi