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: 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

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.

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
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

5. (Cantonese, Shanghainese Wu, slang) money

   有米 [Cantonese]  ―  jau⁵ mai⁵ [Jyutping]  ―  rich

   背米 [Shanghainese]  ―  [pe̞⁴⁴  mi²³] [IPA]  ―  to earn money

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

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.

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

     From: 2020, 曹楊／曹杨 (Young), 微光 (Glimmer)

     zhǐshì wēixiǎo de guāng, zhào bù liàng yī mǐ de dìfāng [Pinyin]

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

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

• “米”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學／香港中文大学 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #2599”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

(grade 2 “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)

⟨ko₂me₂⟩ → */kəməj/ → /kome/

From Old Japanese. First appears in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE, with the phonetic man'yōgana spelling 渠梅.[1]

Many theories exist regarding the ultimate derivation:

• From reconstructed Proto-Japonic *kəmay, in which this case it would be cognate with Proto-Ryukyuan *kome.
• 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.
• Possibly cognate with Proto-Vietic *kəːm (“cooked rice”), modern cơm.
• Possibly cognate with Proto-Austronesian *Semay and Old Chinese 糜 (OC *mral).[2][3] However, 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​ [kòméꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[4][5][6]
• IPA^(key): [ko̞me̞]

米(こめ) • (kome) 

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

   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 [a ~ e] 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)[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

First attested around the Edo period.

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

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 [mèétórú] (Heiban – [0])[4]
• IPA^(key): [me̞ːto̞ɾɯ̟ᵝ]

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”)

From Middle Chinese 米 (MC mei^X).

• IPA^(key): [be̞ː]

米(べい) • (bei) ^{←べい (bei)?}

1. rice
2. Short for アメリカ合衆国／亜米利加合衆国 (Amerika Gasshūkoku, “United States (a country)”).

   米国(べいこく) (Beikoku, “US”)

   日米関係(にちべいかんけい) (Nichi-Bei kankei, “Japan–United States relations”)

From Middle Chinese 米 (MC mei^X).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [mi]
• Phonetic hangul: [미]

Wikisource 米 (eumhun 쌀 미 (ssal mi))

1. Hanja form^? of 미 (“rice”). [affix]

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

米 (*-moy?)

1. Apparently a verbal causative suffix; because, since

• This form is attested commonly in the hyangga poems of the first millennium, but nowhere else.
• In the twentieth century, this was conventionally compared to Modern Korean 으매 (-eumae, “because, since”), but this seems impossible given that the modern construction is a grammaticalization of elements not found in Old Korean, and is not attested in Middle Korean.
• Some scholars believe it is a mere orthographic variant of 㢱 (*-mye, connective suffix).

• 이용 (Yi-Yong) (1999) 연결 어미의 형성에 관한 연구 [Study of the formation of connective suffixes], Seoul City University (PhD), pages 144—146
• 김지오 (Kim Ji-o) (2019), “고대국어 연결어미 연구의 현황과 과제 [The conditions and future tasks of analyzing connective endings in Old Korean]”, in Gugyeol Yeon'gu, volume 43, pages 55–87

米: Hán Việt readings: mễ (莫(mạc)禮(lễ)切(thiết))[1][2]
米: Nôm readings: mễ[1][2][3][4], mè[1]

1. chữ Hán form of mễ (“rice grains”).

• 米西基 (Mễ Tây Cơ, “Mexico”)