Pear body shape

What the rules say

The shared feature is that the hips measure larger than the bust — but the amount differs by rule: at least 3.6 inches (9.1 cm) for Triangle’s first clause, more than 2 inches for Spoon. The rules then differ on the waist. Triangle’s first clause has hips minus waist between 0 and 9 inches; its second clause, added in 2020, covers a bust smaller than the waist with the waist no larger than the hips, regardless of the hip lead and without the 9-inch limit — bust 30, waist 31, hips 40 inches returns Triangle with a hips-to-waist difference of exactly 9. Spoon requires hips minus waist of 7 or more and high hip ÷ waist of at least 1.193. Bottom Hourglass requires hips minus waist of 9 or more and a ratio below 1.193.

The results grouped as pear on this site

The fourth measurement

High hip is the circumference around the upper hip, below the waist and above the fullest part of the hips; this site’s convention is about 3 inches (7–8 cm) below the natural waist. It appears only in the Spoon and Bottom Hourglass rules, and it is the one FFIT measurement most people have never taken. When no earlier rule has matched and the first three numbers satisfy the other conditions of either rule, the calculator cannot resolve the result without it and asks. In our ANSUR II analysis (1,986 Army women, ANSUR’s chest and navel-level waist fields applied to the rules, no high hip recorded) 34.7% of records fell into that zone — a figure about that experiment, not a general rate. Without the high hip, the result for those measurements is undetermined.

How nearby results differ

Rectangle requires bust and hips less than 3.6 inches apart and a waist smaller than both within the rule’s limits, and no earlier rule matching. In our ANSUR II stability analysis, the transitions between Rectangle and Triangle, and between Rectangle and the undetermined high-hip zone, were the most frequent single-measurement flips, and under the procedure’s tie-break the bust was the measurement most often responsible.

Hourglass requires the hips to lead the bust by less than 3.6 inches with the 9- or 10-inch waist drop. Bottom Hourglass, described above, is where a body with hips leading the bust, a 9-inch waist drop and high hip ÷ waist below 1.193 is filed by FFIT.

Names

Pear and triangle refer to the same relationship in most guides; A-shape is another synonym. Spoon is FFIT’s own term and is rarely used elsewhere. None of these names carries a different rule.

What the label does not mean

Only that the hips measure larger than the bust by the stated amount, with the stated waist relationship. It says nothing about height, weight, front-view width or where on the hips the circumference is carried. The outfits page for this family lists options organised by the effect you may want to try; none is required.

• Outfit options: pear outfits
• Comparing results: pear vs rectangle · hourglass vs pear
• Where the high hip is measured: how to measure

References

The rules and figures on this page come from the sources below. Reference values are conventions from the literature, not targets.

1. Simmons, Istook & Devarajan (2004). Female Figure Identification Technique (FFIT) for Apparel, Part I: Describing Female ShapesJournal of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management 4(1):1–16 · JTATM 4(1)Defines the nine FFIT shapes (hourglass, top and bottom hourglass, spoon, triangle, inverted triangle, rectangle, diamond, oval) from bust, waist, high-hip and hip circumferences on 3D body scans of North American women. The rules on this site are this set, as later revised.
2. Sokolowski (2020). Modification of the Female Figure Identification Technique (FFIT) Formulas to Include Plus Size Bodies3DBODY.TECH 2020 Conference Proceedings · proc.3dbody.tech/2020Shows the 2007 FFIT formulas assumed the waist is smaller than the bust and so failed on many larger bodies; adds the Diamond and Oval rules and a ≥ 0 lower bound to Triangle, Inverted Triangle and Rectangle. This site uses the revised formulas.