The ellipsoidal kiwi fruit is a true berry and has furry brownish green skin.

Once known as Chinese gooseberry, kiwis were given the name “kiwi” by New Zealand fruit exporters after the flightless kiwi birds, which are endemic to New Zealand (1). Botanically, kiwis are classified as berries.

The Chinese gooseberry — more commonly known as kiwifruit or simply kiwi — is a brown, fuzzy, egg-sized fruit with bright green flesh. You can sometimes find gold kiwis, which have yellow flesh, or kiwi berries, which are the size of a grape and have smooth, green skin.

The fruit is actually part of the Actinidia genus, and there are at least 400 varieties. They are a form of berry that grows on woody vines, much like grapes.

Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi outside New Zealand and Australia) or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus Actinidia. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa 'Hayward') is oval, about the size of a large hen's egg: 5–8 centimetres (2–3 inches) in length and 4.5–5.5 cm (13⁄4 – 21⁄4 in) in diameter.