米

Stroke order

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Radical 119 米

米 (Kangxi radical 119, 米+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 火木 (FD), four-corner 9090₄, composition ⿻丷木(GHJKV) or ⿻十⿱丷八(T) or ⿻丷⿻十八(T))

1. Kangxi radical #119, ⽶.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/米
• 侎, 咪, 𪤹, 𫰤, 𢘺, 𢬊, 洣, 𤝸, 迷, 𭥻, 𭩽, 𣧲, 毩, 𤇿, 𤥄, 脒, 眯, 𥒄, 𥞪, 䋛, 詸, 𧵵, 𨀷, 𮠩, 𡲸, 銤, 𩗐, 𩡅, 䱊, 𫜇, 𪌬, 𮮒, 𪓋, 𡅊
• 釆, 冞, 夈, 宩, 屎, 㪰, 㫧, 𭽀, 𥅼, 𥞫, 𥥪, 䍘, 𥭁, 𦊮, 𩂮, 𫡿, 𢊪, 𤌟, 𩭄, 𪀳, 麋, 𮒷
• 𫥾, 𫦨, 敉, 料, 𭩼, 𧊾, 頪, 𪀿, 㐘, 𢘻, 𢍨, 𭫮, 麊, 匊, 氣, 𠩕, 𢈍, 𠤻, 𡇒, 𧗱, 歯

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 906, character 31
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 26832
• Dae Jaweon: page 1331, character 28
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3141, character 1
• Unihan data for U+7C73

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 米 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 米 (Cantonese)
• 米 (Classical)
• mī (Eastern Min)
• bí (Southern Min)

Historical forms of the character 米
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – rice kernels without husk. The character 粟, by contrast, refers to rice kernels with husk. According to Li Xiaoding (李孝定), the horizontal stroke is a bamboo sieve (籭 or 篩子). See also the bottom component of 暴 in its original form.

Unrelated to 木, 禾, and 来.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ma-j ~ mej (“rice; paddy”). Cognate with Garo mi (“rice”), Atong (India) mai (“rice”), Jingpho ma (“rice; paddy”), Rabha মাই (mai), Dimasa mai.

米

1. hulled or husked uncooked rice (Classifier: 粒 m c mn; 顆／颗 m)
2. husked seed
3. grain-like things
4. (chiefly Cantonese) Short for 米粉 (mǐfěn, “rice vermicelli”).

   星洲炒米  ―  Xīngzhōu chǎomǐ  ―  Singapore-style noodles

   雪菜火鴨絲炆米 [Cantonese, trad.]
   雪菜火鸭丝炆米 [Cantonese, simp.]

   syut³ coi³ fo² aap³ si¹ man¹ mai⁵

   braised rice vermicelli with pickled mustard and shredded roast duck

5. (Cantonese, Shanghainese, slang) money

   有米 [Cantonese]  ―  jau⁵ mai⁵   ―  rich

   背米 [Shanghainese]  ―  ⁵pe ⁶mi [Wugniu]  ―  to earn money

6. (Shanghainese, slang) ten thousand of a currency designation; ten grand (Classifier: 粒 w)
7. a surname

   米芾  ―  Mǐ Fú  ―  Mi Fu (Song artist)

Short for 米突 (mǐtū), from English metre.

米

1. metre

   米三 [Teochew]  ―  bhi² san¹ [Peng'im]  ―  1.3 metres

   我有一米九高。  ―  Wǒ yǒu yī mǐ jiǔ gāo.  ―  I'm 1.9 metres tall.

   • 2020, “微光 [Glimmer]”, 唐小奕 (lyrics), 曹楊 [Young] (music)‎performed by 曹楊 [Young]:

     只是微小的光　照不亮一米的地方 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

     zhǐshì wēixiǎo de guāng, zhào bù liàng yī mǐ de dìfang

     am just a tiny light; cannot brighten up an area within a metre.

• (unit of length): 丈 (zhàng), 尺 (chǐ), 寸 (cùn), 分 (fēn)

米

1. Only used in 米魯／米鲁.

• “米”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #2599”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. rice
2. (ateji) meter
3. (ateji) America
4. (ateji) United States

• Go-on: まい (mai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: べい (bei, Jōyō)
• Kan’yō-on: め (me)
• Kun: こめ (kome, 米, Jōyō)、めめ (meme, 米)、よね (yone, 米)、メートル (mētoru, 米)
• Nanori: こん (kon)、たから (takara)、めい (mei)

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

米

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Rice

Wikipedia

⟨ko₂me₂⟩ → */kəməj/ → /kome/

From Old Japanese. First appears in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE, with the phonetic man'yōgana spelling 渠梅.^[1] In turn, from Proto-Japonic *kəmay.

Many theories exist regarding the ultimate derivation:

• Perhaps from 籠め (​kome), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of verb 籠める (komeru, “do with one's heart”), from the way rice is farmed. The accent of kome in the Heian period is <LL>, while kome- in the Heian period is <L->. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)
• Possibly cognate with Proto-Vietic *kəːm (“cooked rice”), modern cơm. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)
• Possibly cognate with Proto-Austronesian *Semay and Old Chinese 糜 (OC *mral).^[2][3] However, this is extremely speculative; none of the known derivations from Proto-Austronesian *Semay develop initial /k/, nor is this shift explainable by any known mechanism within Japonic.

• (Tokyo) こめ (Odaka – )^[4][5][6]
• IPA^(key):

米(こめ) • (kome) 

1. rice (husked grains of the Asian rice plant, Oryza sativa), one of the five grains

   Synonym: (colloquial) 菩薩 (bosatsu)

   Hypernym: 五穀 (gokoku)

• 五(ご)穀(こく) (gokoku, “five grains”): 米(こめ) (kome, “rice”), 麦(むぎ) (mugi, “wheat”), 粟(あわ) (awa, “foxtail millet”), 黍(きび) (kibi, “proso millet”), 豆(まめ) (mame, “soybeans”)

• 飯(いい) (ii, “cooked grains”)
• 稲(イネ) (ine, “rice plant”)
• ご飯(はん) (gohan, “cooked rice”)
• ライス (raisu)

米(こめ) • (Kome) 

1. a female given name
2. a surname

⟨yo₂nai⟩ → */jənai/ → */jəne/ → /jone/

First attested in the Wamyō Ruijushō (938 CE).

Possibly from Proto-Japonic *jənaC- (Vovin, 1998)^[7] and related to 稲 (ine, “rice plant”).

Unknown "-C-" consonantal segment, reconstructed by Vovin, seems unlikely considering vowel alternation, seen in bound form yona- and free form yone:^[8]

Compare 藍 (awi → ai, “indigo”) from 青 (awo → ao, “blue”) + い (i, emphatic nominative particle(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?))^[9] against 白い /siroi/ from ⟨siro₁ki₁⟩.^[10]

The colloquial sense is derived from the components of the 米 kanji: 八 (hachi, “eight”) + 十 (jū, “ten”) + 八 (hachi, “eight”).

米(よね) • (yone) 

1. the Asian rice plant, Oryza sativa

   Synonym: 稲 (ine)

2. rice (husked grains of the Asian rice plant, Oryza sativa)
3. (colloquial) an eighty-eight-year-old

   Synonym: 米寿 (beiju)

米(よね) • (Yone) 

1. a female given name
2. a surname

Probably a shortened reduplication of kome (see above). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

First cited to a work from 1275.^[1]

• IPA^(key):

米(めめ) • (meme) 

1. (colloquial) rice (husked grains of the rice plant)

Borrowing from French mètre.^[4]

The use of this kanji is attested in the Meiji period and is an example of ateji (当て字), shortened from Mandarin 米突 (mǐtū), see Chinese section above.

• (Tokyo) メートル (Heiban – )^[4]
• IPA^(key):

米(メートル) • (mētoru) 

1. Rare spelling of メートル (mētoru): metre (SI unit of length)
2. Rare spelling of メーター (mētā): meter (a device or implement used for measurement)

• 瓦(グラム) (guramu, “gram”)
• 立(リットル) (rittoru, “litre”)