"umami" meaning in English

See umami in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /uˈmɑːmi/ Audio: en-au-umami.ogg [Australia]
Rhymes: -ɑːmi Etymology: From Japanese 旨味, うまみ (umami), from 旨い (umai, “delicious”), which describes the quality of a pleasant, savory taste. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|ja|旨味}} Japanese 旨味, {{m|ja|うまみ|tr=umami}} うまみ (umami), {{m|ja|旨い|t=delicious|tr=umai}} 旨い (umai, “delicious”) Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} umami (uncountable)
  1. One of the five basic tastes, the savory taste of foods such as seaweed, cured fish, aged cheeses and meats. Wikipedia link: umami Tags: uncountable Synonyms: savoriness, deliciousness, meatiness, brothiness Derived forms: umami bomb, umaminess Related terms: osmazome Translations (one of the five basic tastes, savoriness): ngjelmë (Albanian), 鮮味 (Chinese Cantonese), 鲜味 (sin¹ mei⁶) (Chinese Cantonese), 鮮味 (Chinese Mandarin), 鲜味 (xiānwèi) (Chinese Mandarin), umami (Dutch), hartig (Dutch), umamo (Esperanto), umami (Finnish), ruokaisuus (Finnish), lihaisuus (Finnish), umami [masculine] (French), Umami [neuter] (German), ουμάμι (oumámi) [neuter] (Greek), umami (Hungarian), gurih (Indonesian), umami (Indonesian), umami [masculine] (Italian), 旨味 (umami) (alt: うまみ) (Japanese), អ៊ុំម៉ាមី (ʼummaamii) (Khmer), 감칠맛 (gamchilmat) (Korean), 우마미 (umami) (Korean), umami (Malay), gurih (Malay), umami [masculine] (Norwegian Bokmål), umami [masculine] (Norwegian Nynorsk), ума́ми (umámi) [neuter] (Russian), umami (Spanish), umami [common-gender] (Swedish), รสอูมามิ (Thai), อูมามิ (uu-maa-mí) (Thai), ума́мі (umámi) [neuter] (Ukrainian)

Download JSON data for umami meaning in English (7.6kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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        "2": "ja",
        "3": "旨味"
      },
      "expansion": "Japanese 旨味",
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    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "うまみ",
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      "args": {
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  "etymology_text": "From Japanese 旨味, うまみ (umami), from 旨い (umai, “delicious”), which describes the quality of a pleasant, savory taste.",
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Cantonese terms with redundant transliterations",
          "parents": [
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      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "umami bomb"
        },
        {
          "word": "umaminess"
        }
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000 January 28, Oliver Burkeman, “Things that make you go yum”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
          "text": "Umami is the mysterious “fifth taste”—a flavour that has never seemed to fit into the existing categories of sweet, sour, salty and bitter. South-east Asian chefs have exploited it throughout history—it's an essential part of the taste of seaweed, among other things[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "2011, Caitlin Moran, How to be a Woman",
          "text": "But we are, of course, sweaty, fleshy lady-animals – all fur and umami.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, “The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel”, in Wired",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Raquel Pelzel, Umami Bomb: 75 Vegetarian Recipes That Explode with Flavor, Workman Publishing, page 2",
          "text": "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 […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One of the five basic tastes, the savory taste of foods such as seaweed, cured fish, aged cheeses and meats."
      ],
      "id": "en-umami-en-noun-Z9KCByrS",
      "links": [
        [
          "taste",
          "taste"
        ],
        [
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        [
          "seaweed",
          "seaweed"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "osmazome"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "savoriness"
        },
        {
          "word": "deliciousness"
        },
        {
          "word": "meatiness"
        },
        {
          "word": "brothiness"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "sq",
          "lang": "Albanian",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "ngjelmë"
        },
        {
          "code": "yue",
          "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "鮮味"
        },
        {
          "code": "yue",
          "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
          "roman": "sin¹ mei⁶",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "鲜味"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "鮮味"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "xiānwèi",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "鲜味"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "hartig"
        },
        {
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "umamo"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "ruokaisuus"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "lihaisuus"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "oumámi",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "ουμάμι"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "id",
          "lang": "Indonesian",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "gurih"
        },
        {
          "code": "id",
          "lang": "Indonesian",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "alt": "うまみ",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "umami",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "旨味"
        },
        {
          "code": "km",
          "lang": "Khmer",
          "roman": "ʼummaamii",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "អ៊ុំម៉ាមី"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "roman": "gamchilmat",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "감칠맛"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "roman": "umami",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "우마미"
        },
        {
          "code": "ms",
          "lang": "Malay",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "ms",
          "lang": "Malay",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "gurih"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "nn",
          "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "umámi",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "ума́ми"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "umami"
        },
        {
          "code": "th",
          "lang": "Thai",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "รสอูมามิ"
        },
        {
          "code": "th",
          "lang": "Thai",
          "roman": "uu-maa-mí",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "word": "อูมามิ"
        },
        {
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "umámi",
          "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "ума́мі"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "umami"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/uˈmɑːmi/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːmi"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-umami.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e1/En-au-umami.ogg/En-au-umami.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/En-au-umami.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "umami"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "umami bomb"
    },
    {
      "word": "umaminess"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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        "2": "ja",
        "3": "旨味"
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      "args": {
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        "2": "うまみ",
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      "args": {
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        "tr": "umai"
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      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Japanese 旨味, うまみ (umami), from 旨い (umai, “delicious”), which describes the quality of a pleasant, savory taste.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "-"
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      "expansion": "umami (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "osmazome"
    }
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  "senses": [
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        "Cantonese terms with redundant transliterations",
        "English 3-syllable words",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms borrowed from Japanese",
        "English terms derived from Japanese",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Japanese terms with redundant script codes",
        "Korean terms with redundant script codes",
        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
        "Rhymes:English/ɑːmi",
        "Rhymes:English/ɑːmi/3 syllables"
      ],
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        {
          "ref": "2000 January 28, Oliver Burkeman, “Things that make you go yum”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
          "text": "Umami is the mysterious “fifth taste”—a flavour that has never seemed to fit into the existing categories of sweet, sour, salty and bitter. South-east Asian chefs have exploited it throughout history—it's an essential part of the taste of seaweed, among other things[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Caitlin Moran, How to be a Woman",
          "text": "But we are, of course, sweaty, fleshy lady-animals – all fur and umami.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, “The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel”, in Wired",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Raquel Pelzel, Umami Bomb: 75 Vegetarian Recipes That Explode with Flavor, Workman Publishing, page 2",
          "text": "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 […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
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      ],
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          "word": "savoriness"
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        {
          "word": "deliciousness"
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        {
          "word": "meatiness"
        },
        {
          "word": "brothiness"
        }
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      "audio": "en-au-umami.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e1/En-au-umami.ogg/En-au-umami.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/En-au-umami.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "sq",
      "lang": "Albanian",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "ngjelmë"
    },
    {
      "code": "yue",
      "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "鮮味"
    },
    {
      "code": "yue",
      "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
      "roman": "sin¹ mei⁶",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "鲜味"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "鮮味"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "xiānwèi",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "鲜味"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "hartig"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "umamo"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "ruokaisuus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "lihaisuus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "oumámi",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "ουμάμι"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "id",
      "lang": "Indonesian",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "gurih"
    },
    {
      "code": "id",
      "lang": "Indonesian",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "alt": "うまみ",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "umami",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "旨味"
    },
    {
      "code": "km",
      "lang": "Khmer",
      "roman": "ʼummaamii",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "អ៊ុំម៉ាមី"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "roman": "gamchilmat",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "감칠맛"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "roman": "umami",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "우마미"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "gurih"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "nn",
      "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "umámi",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "ума́ми"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "umami"
    },
    {
      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "รสอูมามิ"
    },
    {
      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "roman": "uu-maa-mí",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "word": "อูมามิ"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "umámi",
      "sense": "one of the five basic tastes, savoriness",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "ума́мі"
    }
  ],
  "word": "umami"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.