What is the Kanji for "Rice"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Rice", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Rice" is "米".

This kanji has 3 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Kome".

Its onyomi readings are "Mai" and "Bei".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 2 parts:

The radical "丷" means "Divide" . And The kanji "木" means "Tree" and "Wood" and can be read as "Boku", "Ki", "Moku", and "Ko".

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "米" mean in japanese?

"米" means "Rice".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Second Grade, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N3 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

米: "Rice". The Japanese noun '米 (べい)' means 'rice'. This word refers to the cultivated cereal grain that is a staple food in many Asian cuisines. It can be used to refer to the whole grain, cooked rice dishes, or even rice as an agricultural product. For example: I eat rice every day - (私は毎日ご飯を食べます). Let's cook some rice - (米を炊きましょう).

米国: "America". The proper noun '米国 (べいこく)' refers to the United States of America. It is a common way to refer to the USA in Japanese. For example: I'm from America - (私は米国出身です). The American flag - (米国の国旗)

欧米: "The West". The noun '欧米 (おうべい)' refers to Western countries, particularly those in Europe and North America. It is a common way to collectively refer to the highly developed nations of the Western world. This term is often used in contrast to Japan and other Asian countries. For example: The culture of the West is quite different from that of Japan - (欧米の文化は日本の文化とはかなり異なっている). The economies of the major European and North American countries are considered to be part of the 'West' - (欧州と北米の主要国の経済は「欧米」と呼ばれている).

日米: "Japan-US". The term '日米 (にちべい)' refers to the relationship or connection between Japan and the United States. It is commonly used to describe political, economic, or cultural ties between the two countries. For example: The Japan-US alliance is an important partnership - (日米同盟は重要なパートナーシップです).

米軍: "U.S. military". The term '米軍 (べいぐん)' refers to the U.S. military forces. This includes the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marine Corps that are stationed in Japan or other parts of the world. It can be used to discuss the presence, operations or policies of the American military abroad. For example: The U.S. military has a large presence in Okinawa - (米軍は沖縄に大きな存在感がある).

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "ま" is read as "ma". The hiragana "い" is read as "i". The hiragana "べ" is read as "be". The hiragana "こ" is read as "ko". And The hiragana "め" is read as "me".

Heres a quick tutorial on how to use it. You'll be asked three type of questions: meaning, reading, and writing.

For meanings questions all you have to do is type the english meaning. If there is more than one meaning, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Reading questions you have to type the reading in romaji (roman letters, our normal alphabet) and it'll be automatically converted to hiragana if necessary. If there is more than one reading, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Writing questions some options will appear and all you have to do is select the correct ones.