梅干し

Japanese

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

Alternative spellings
(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”).^[1]^[2] The hoshi changes to boshi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) うめぼし [ùmébóshí] (Heiban – [0])^[3]^[2]
IPA^(key): [ɯ̟me̞bo̞ɕi]

Noun

梅(うめ)干(ぼ)し • (umeboshi)

umeboshi: salt-dried or pickled Japanese ume (a kind of plum); very sour, and often used as a condiment in Japanese cooking
(slang) an elderly person (from the similarity of wrinkled skin to a wrinkled umeboshi; compare usage of English prune)
(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

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

English: mebos, umeboshi
Dutch: mebos

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-3] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[1]

[2]

[3]