A broad word for what a plant bears: fruit, nuts, berries, or seed-like products. Common in phrases such as 実がなる, 木の実, 草の実, and 松の実.
庭の柿の木に実がなった。
The persimmon tree in the garden bore fruit.
Years of hard work finally paid off.
A squirrel is gathering nuts.
草の実がズボンについた。
Grass seeds stuck to my pants.
solid ingredients in soup; pieces in broth
Culinary use for the solid pieces in soup or broth, especially in expressions like みそ汁の実. The more general word 具 is also very common.
今日のみそ汁の実は豆腐とわかめだ。
The solid ingredients in today's miso soup are tofu and wakame.
substance; real content
Figurative use for meaningful substance or real content, most often in set phrases such as 実のある and 実のない.
短い会議だったが、実のある話し合いができた。
It was a short meeting, but we had a substantive discussion.
彼の説明は長いだけで実がない。
His explanation is just long and has no real substance.
This miso soup has plenty of solid ingredients in it.
I got tired of hearing nothing but empty talk.
In autumn, the persimmons ripen.
具 is the general, common word for ingredients or fillings in soups, rice balls, and similar foods, while 実 is used more narrowly for the solid pieces in soup.
中身 refers to the contents inside something in general, while 実 in its figurative sense emphasizes meaningful substance or real content.
種 specifically means a seed meant for planting or found inside a fruit, while 実 more broadly means whatever a plant produces, including fruit and nuts.
実 is a general word for the fruit or seed of any plant, whereas 木の実 specifically means fruit or nuts growing on trees.
実 (み) means fruit, solid ingredients, or substance, while 身 (み) means the body, flesh, or a person themselves, despite sounding identical.
Used when counting 実 (fruit/berries or seeds) as small round grains, e.g. 実を一粒.
ripening; maturing (of crops) · harvest; crop; yield
bear fruit; ripen · bear fruit (figurative); produce results; pay off
fruit of a tree; nut; berry
seedling; plant raised from seed
crop; harvest; ripeness · income; profits; earnings · loaded (containers)
hemp seed
branched bur-reed; simplestem bur-reed
cherry tree with edible fruit; sweet cherry; Nanking cherry
ornamental plant grown for its fruit
Standard spelling for み meaning a fruit, nut, seed-bearing body, soup ingredient, or figurative substance.
Rare attested kanji form for み in the plant-product sense; learners should normally write 実.
A native Japanese reading み conventionally written 実 for fruit, substance, or reality-related meanings. The rare spelling 子 is attested but not the normal modern spelling.
fruit fly (family Tephritidae)
flowers and fruit; blossom and fruit · name and reality; reputation and substance · form and content; appearance and substance
green Japanese peppercorn; unripe Japanese peppercorn
banana (plant)
pine nut
Japanese apricot; ume fruit