漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement
麦: barley, wheat
- 龶(form)
- 夂to follow(form)
龶 and 夂 are drawn in
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
バクbaku · on'yomi · in compounds
- 麦秋ばくしゅうearly summer
- 麦芽ばくがmalt
むぎmugi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 麦むぎwheat, barley
- 小麦こむぎwheat
- 大麦おおむぎbarley
- ライ麦ライむぎrye
- 小麦粉こむぎこwheat flour
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 蕎麦そばsoba (buckwheat noodles)
- 麦酒ビールbeer
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)來 (sound) + 夊 footprint pointing down; to walk slowly (meaning)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲): phonetic 來 + semantic 夊 (“footprint pointing down; to walk slowly”); according to Xu Shen, its meaning is "wheat". 來 was the original character for “wheat”.
Source: Wiktionary, 麥 (rev. 92431106), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“The base kanji for the golden cereal grains that are grown in the fields and harvested for food.”
Connections
Also read バク
7 kanji share this on'yomiEasy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 麥 · mài
Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 麦. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 麥.
- Simplified
- 麦 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 麥 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin mài most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.