梅

In Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese scripts, the right side component is written 每 (contains 母 with 2 dots). In Japanese shinjitai, the component is simplified to 毎 (contains 毋 with a single middle stroke). Due to Han unification, both characters (梅/梅) are encoded under the same Unicode codepoint. A CJK compatibility ideograph (U+FA44) exists for the kyūjitai form of 梅.

梅 (radical 75, 木+7 in Chinese, 木+6 in Japanese, 11 strokes in Chinese, 10 strokes in Japanese, cangjie input 木人田卜 (DOWY), four-corner 4895₇, composition ⿰木每(GHTKV) or ⿰木毎(J))

• KangXi: page 528, character 8
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14795
• Dae Jaweon: page 916, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1215, character 13
• Unihan data for U+6885

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *mɯː) : semantic 木 (“tree”) + phonetic 每 (OC *mɯːʔ).

梅

1. Chinese plum
2. Alternative name for 楠 (nán, “Machilus nanmu”).

   終南何有？有條有梅。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
   终南何有？有条有梅。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

   From: The Classic of Poetry, circa 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

   Zhōngnán hé yǒu? Yǒu tiáo yǒu méi. [Pinyin]

   (please add an English translation of this example)

3. Short for 楊梅／杨梅 (yángméi).
4. Short for 梅雨 (méiyǔ).
5. Short for 梅州 (Méizhōu).
6. A surname​.

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 梅)

1. Japanese plum (Prunus mume)

• Go-on: まい (mai); め (me)
• Kan-on: ばい (bai, Jōyō)
• Kun: うめ (ume, 梅, Jōyō); むめ (mume, 梅)

⟨me₂⟩ → */mːəɨ/ → ⟨mume₂⟩ → ⟨ume₂⟩ → */uməɨ/ → /ume/

From Old Japanese.[1][2][3] Found already in the Man'yōshū with the ume reading, completed some time after 759 CE.[4]

Probably ultimately from Middle Chinese 梅 (MC muʌi),[2][3] with the borrowed me reading gaining a pronounced kind of initial m- sound, perhaps realized as *mme. The phonetic spelling was often rendered as むめ (*mme, mume) from the Heian period,[1][3] with *mme/mume and ume apparently existing in free variation. The reading eventually settled on うめ (ume). Compare the similar pattern of phonetic shift for 馬 (ma → *mma → muma → uma, “horse”), from Middle Chinese 馬 (MC mˠa^X).

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) うめ [ùmé] (Heiban – [0])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ɯ̟ᵝme̞]

• 楳 (rare)

梅 (hiragana うめ, katakana ウメ, rōmaji ume)

1. the Japanese plum or Japanese apricot, Prunus mume
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 5, poem 840), text here

     波 (は)流 (る)楊 (や)那 (な)宜 (ぎ)可 (か)豆 (づ)良 (ら)尓 (に)乎 (を)利 (り)志 (し)烏 (う)梅 (め)能 (の)波 (は)奈 (な)多 (た)礼 (れ)可 (か)有 (う)可 (か)倍 (べ)志 (し)佐 (さ)加 (か)豆 (づ)岐 (き)能 (の)倍 (へ)尓 (に) [Man'yōgana]

     春 (はる)柳 (やなぎ)かづらに折 (を)りし梅 (うめ)の花 (はな)誰 (たれ)か浮 (う)かべし酒坏 (さかづき)の上 (へ)に [Modern spelling]

     haruyanagi kazura ni orishi ume no hana tare ka ukabeshi sakazuki no e ni

     Plum blossoms, picked to make garlands like willows, who will float you in his cup?[5]

   • c. 1005–07, Shūi Wakashū (book 1, poem 15)

     我 (わ)が宿 (やど)の梅 (うめ)の立 (た)ち枝 (え)や見 (み)えつらむ思 (おも)ひのほかに君 (きみ)が来 (き)ませる

     waga yado no ume no tachi-e ya mietsuran omoi no hoka ni kimi ga kimaseru

     Is it that the young branch tips, of the plum tree in my garden have come into view? For unexpectedly my lord, you have been moved to visit.[6]

2. the lowest of a three-level rank system
3. a style of 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”), in the form of plum blossoms
4. short for 梅襲 (ume-gasane)

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as ウメ.

• 桜 (さくら)切 (き)る馬 (ば)鹿 (か)梅 (うめ)切 (き)らぬ馬 (ば)鹿 (か) (sakura kiru baka ume kiranu baka)

• 松 (しょう)竹 (ちく)梅 (ばい) (shōchikubai, three-level ranking system): 松 (まつ) (matsu, “pine”, the top rank), 竹 (たけ) (take, “bamboo”, the middle rank), 梅 (うめ) (ume, “plum”, the lowest rank)

• 李 (スモモ), 酸 (ス)桃 (モモ) (sumomo, “Prunus salicina”)

梅 (hiragana うめ, rōmaji Ume)

1. a female given name
2. a surname

⟨me₂⟩ → */mːəɨ/ → ⟨mume₂⟩ → */mʉməɨ/ → /mume/

From Old Japanese.[1][2][3]

This reading becomes common during the Heian period,[1][3] later falling into disuse.

Superseded by the ume reading above.

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [mɯ̟ᵝme̞]

梅 (hiragana むめ, rōmaji mume)

1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) the Japanese plum or Japanese apricot, Prunus mume
   • 905–914, Kokin Wakashū (book 1, poem 32)

     折 (を)りつれば袖 (そで)こそ匂 (にほ)へ梅 (むめ)の花 (はな)ありとやここにうぐひすの鳴 (な)く

     oritsureba sode koso nioe mume no hana ari to ya koko ni uguisu no naku

     The bough once broken gave its fragrance to the sleeve: petals of the plum must be somewhere near at hand, the warbler thinks, to hear it sing![7]

• 唐 (から)梅 (むめ) (karamume)

• → Translingual: mume

梅 • (mae) (hangeul 매, revised mae, McCune–Reischauer mae, Yale may)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

梅 (mai)

1. rattan

• ngày mai (tomorrow)
• mai sau (in the future)
• mai hoa (red avadavat; red munia; strawberry finch)