梅干し

Japanese

梅干し (umeboshi): a few umeboshi, pickled Japanese plums.

Kanji in this term
梅	干
うめ Grade: 4	ほ > ぼ Grade: 6
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
梅干し (kyūjitai) 梅干

Etymology

Compound of 梅 (ume, “plum”) +‎ 干し (hoshi, “drying, dried”), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 干す (hosu, “to dry”). The hoshi changes to boshi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) うめぼし [ùmébóshí] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɯ̟ᵝme̞bo̞ɕi]

Noun

梅(うめ)干(ぼ)し • (umeboshi) 

1. umeboshi: salt-dried or pickled Japanese ume (a kind of plum); very sour, and often used as a condiment in Japanese cooking
2. (slang) an elderly person (from the similarity of wrinkled skin to a wrinkled umeboshi; compare usage of English prune)
3. (medicine) an unripe Japanese ume that has been smoked over a fire until black, used in traditional medicines and as a pigment

Synonyms

• (elderly person): 老人(ろうじん) (rōjin)
• (medicine): 烏梅(うばい) (ubai), 燻梅(ふすべうめ) (fusubeume)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 梅干(うめぼ)し和(あ)え (umeboshi ae), 梅干和(うめぼしあえ) (umeboshi ae): a dressing or sauce for fish or vegetables made of umeboshi mixed with sugar or other sweetener
• 梅干(うめぼ)し飴(あめ) (umeboshi ame), 梅干飴(うめぼしあめ) (umeboshi ame): "umeboshi candy": a sweet resembling an umeboshi in shape and/or size and/or flavor
• 梅干(うめぼ)し磯巾着(いそぎんちゃく) (umeboshi iso ginchaku), 梅干磯巾着(うめぼしいそぎんちゃく) (umeboshi iso ginchaku): Actiniidae, a family of sea anemone
• 梅干(うめぼ)しの木(き) (umeboshi no ki), 梅干(うめぼし)の木(き) (umeboshi no ki): alternate term for 権萃 (gonzui) or 三つ葉空木 (mitsuba utsugi), Staphylea bumalda, a kind of bladdernut tree
• 梅干(うめぼ)し婆(ばば) (umeboshi baba), 梅干婆(うめぼしばば) (umeboshi baba): (derogatory) a wrinkly elderly woman

Descendants

Descendants

• English: mebos, umeboshi
• Dutch: mebos