うまい

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.^[1] Sometimes reconstructed as Proto-Japonic *uma.

The ultimate derivation remains unclear. The term occasionally appears in texts from the Heian period (794–1185 CE) with the phonetic spelling mumashi (in the classical terminal form),^[2] suggesting a possible pronunciation of */mmasi/ with an emphasized initial /mm/ sound, similar to the reconstructed readings for 馬 (*mma, “horse”) and 梅 (*mme, “plum”). The resulting reconstructed adjective stem of *mma- could indicate a derivation from onomatopoeia; compare English mmm as an expression of approval for something tasty.

Alternatively, umai is listed in some sources^[3] as perhaps deriving from verb 熟む (umu, “to ripen, to become ripe”). There is a derived compound term where the meaning is clearly from the adjective, and the spelling uses the 熟 kanji from the verb. However, the verb does not appear in historical sources with an emphatic initial /mm/, and it seems to be cognate with 膿む (umu, “to fester, to fill with pus, to produce pus”, intransitive),^[4] possibly also with 生む, 産む (umu, “to bear, to give birth to; to produce”, transitive).

Reconstructed by Samuel Martin as Proto-Japonic *ma-.^[5]

• (Tokyo) うまい (Nakadaka – )^[4][6][7]
• IPA^(key):

うまい • (umai) -i (adverbial うまく (umaku))

1. 上手い, 巧い: good at something, skillful

   Synonym: 上手 (jōzu)

   君(きみ)の日(に)本(ほん)語(ご)がうまいな。

   Kimi no Nihongo ga umai na.

   Your Japanese is good.

   彼(かれ)はテニスがうまい。

   Kare wa tenisu ga umai.

   He's good at tennis.

2. 美味い, 旨い, 甘い, 甘美い: delicious, tasty

   Synonym: 美味しい (oishii)

   飯(めし)がうまい。

   Meshi ga umai.

   The meal is delicious.

3. 旨い: favorable, preferable, good

   Synonyms: 好ましい (konomashii), 良い (ii)

   うまいタイミングで訪(ほう)問(もん)する

   umai taimingu de hōmon suru

   to visit at a good time

4. 旨い: profitable

   株(かぶ)式(しき)仲(なか)買(がい)人(にん)とはうまい仕(し)事(ごと)ですよ。

   Kabushikinakagainin to wa umai shigoto desu yo.

   Being a stockbroker is profitable work.

5. (uncommon) 旨い: thoughtless, foolish, lackadaisical, slipshod, short-sighted

   Synonyms: (more common) 甘い (amai), 愚か (oroka), 浅はか (asahaka)

This term is more common in masculine speech, and may have more casual connotations. The common gender-neutral and polite term for the skillful sense is 上手 (jōzu), and for the delicious sense, 美味しい (oishii).^[8][9]