umami

English

WOTD – 12 October 2015

Etymology

From Japanese 旨味, うまみ (umami), from 旨い (umai, “delicious”), which describes the quality of a pleasant, savory taste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uˈmɑːmi/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːmi

Noun

umami (uncountable)

1. One of the five basic tastes, the savory taste of foods such as seaweed, cured fish, aged cheeses and meats.

   Synonyms: savoriness, deliciousness, meatiness, brothiness

   Coordinate terms: bitterness, saltiness, sourness, sweetness

   • 2011, Caitlin Moran, How to be a Woman:

     But we are, of course, sweaty, fleshy lady-animals – all fur and umami.

   • 2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, Wired, "The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel":

     A few types of molecules get sensed by receptors on the tongue. Protons coming off of acids ping receptors for "sour." Sugars get received as "sweet." Bitter, salty, and the proteinaceous flavor umami all set off their own neural cascades.

   • 2019, Raquel Pelzel, Umami Bomb: 75 Vegetarian Recipes That Explode with Flavor, Workman Publishing (→ISBN), page 2:

     I quickly realized that I have always been obsessed with umami; I just didn't know it. It's why a sprinkle of Parm on just about anything heightens that dish's flavor; it's why grilled smoky mushrooms taste so good. Umami is a deeply satisfying taste, and luckily for us, umami is everywhere—it's in tomatoes and soy sauce, fresh and dried mushrooms, aged cheese, nutritional yeast […]

Derived terms

• umaminess

Translations

one of the five basic tastes, savoriness

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鮮味／鲜味 (sin¹ mei⁶), 鲜味 (sin¹ mei⁶)

  Mandarin: 鮮味／鲜味 (zh) (xiānwèi), 鲜味 (zh) (xiānwèi)

• Dutch: umami (nl)
• Finnish: umami (fi), ruokaisuus, lihaisuus
• French: umami (fr) m
• German: Umami n
• Greek: ουμάμι (el) n (oumámi)
• Hungarian: umami
• Indonesian: gurih (id), umami
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 旨味 (うまみ, umami)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 감칠맛 (gamchilmat), 우마미 (umami)
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: ума́ми (ru) n (umámi)
• Spanish: umami (es)
• Swedish: umami (sv) c
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• osmazome

Further reading

• umami on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• imaum

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Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 旨味 (うまみ, umami), which describes the quality of a pleasant, savory taste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /umami/

Noun

umami (first-person possessive umamiku, second-person possessive umamimu, third-person possessive umaminya)

1. One of the five basic tastes, the savory taste of foods such as seaweed, cured fish, aged cheeses and meats.

Adjective

umami

1. One of the five basic tastes, the savory taste of foods such as seaweed, cured fish, aged cheeses and meats.

Synonyms

• gurih

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Japanese

Romanization

umami

1. Rōmaji transcription of うまみ

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Spanish

Noun

umami m (uncountable)

1. umami