粟
millet
Readings
On'yomi
- ゾク
- ショク
- ソク
Kun'yomi
- あわ
- もみ
Nanori
- あ
- さっ
- そう
Meaning
粟 centers on the grain millet, a small-seeded cereal crop. The meaning is concrete and specific, without broad abstract extensions.
Most common words using 粟
- 粟あわ
foxtail millet (Setaria italica); Italian millet (also Hungarian, German)
- 大粟反おおあわがえり
timothy (Phleum pratense); timothy grass
- 滄海の一粟そうかいのいちぞく
drop in the bucket; drop in the ocean; one grain of millet in a vast ocean
- 濡れ手で粟ぬれてであわ
easy profit
- 濡れ手に粟ぬれてにあわ
easy profit
- 稲粟とうぞく
rice and millet
- 粟ぞく
millet; grain
- 粟おこしあわおこし
millet brittle
- 粟立つあわだつ
to get goosebumps; to have gooseflesh
- 粟粒あわつぶ
millet grain
- 粟粒熱ぞくりゅうねつ
miliary fever; (English) sweating sickness; sweating disease; polyhidrosis; polyidrosis; sudor anglicus
- 粟粒結核ぞくりゅうけっかく
miliary tuberculosis
- 粟飯あわめし
steamed rice with millet; boiled rice with millet
- 粟餅あわもち
millet dough cake; millet mochi
- 粟麩あわぶ
nama-fu (steamed wheat gluten) mixed with millet
- 粳粟うるあわ
non-glutinous millet
- 糯粟もちあわ
glutinous millet (for making mochi and certain types of alcohol)
- 雛罌粟ひなげし
common poppy (Papaver rhoeas); corn poppy; field poppy; red poppy
Study
Etymology
粟 combines 覀 (a variant of 西, possibly suggesting something gathered or covered) with 米 (rice/grain), indicating a type of grain. The exact historical development is uncertain, but the character is consistently associated with millet.
Meaning mnemonic
The top 覀 looks like a lid or covering, and the bottom 米 is rice or grain. Picture a covered container of tiny grains: that's millet, a staple grain like rice but smaller.
Reading mnemonic
For ゾク, imagine a flock of birds pecking at millet: the sound 'zoku' mimics the noise of many beaks tapping the grains. Zoku -> ゾク, and the millet feeds the flock.