梅干し

Japanese

Wikipedia ^ja

Kanji in this term
梅	干

Wikipedia

梅干し

Etymology

Compound of 梅 (ume, “plum”) +‎ 干し (hoshi, “drying, dried”), the stem noun form of 干す (hosu, “to dry”). The hoshi changes to boshi due to rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA: /u.me.bo.si/, [ɯᵝme̞bo̞ɕi]

Alternative forms

• 梅干

Noun

梅干し (hiragana うめぼし, romaji 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

• 梅干し和え, 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
• 梅干し飴, 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
• 梅干し磯巾着, 梅干磯巾着, ウメボシイソギンチャク (umeboshi isoginchaku): Actiniidae, a family of sea anemone
• 梅干しの木, 梅干の木 (うめぼしのき, umeboshi no ki): alternate term for 権萃 (gonzui) or ミツバウツギ (mitsuba utsugi), the Staphylea bumalda, a kind of bladdernut tree
• 梅干し婆, 梅干婆 (うめぼしばば, umeboshi baba): (derogatory) a wrinkly elderly woman