麦 (mài): wheat

Meanings

1 wheat
2 barley

Examples

小麦

Xiǎomài

wheat

麦克风

Màikèfēng

microphone (loanword)

Tips

usage

麦克风 is a phonetic translation of 'microphone'

Components

pictograph

麦 mài

wheat

Self-component — also 麦's own indexing radical (Kangxi #199, the wheat radical). Simplified from traditional 麥 in 1956; the modern shape preserves the head-of-grain on top and the downward roots/foot below. The MMaH split into 龶 + 夂 is a graphic decomposition into nameless pieces, not historical components — best kept as one wheat-pictograph unit. Indexes 麸, 面 (in some traditions), 麴.

Radical

Wheat Kangxi #199

Indexes the wheat / barley grain family. The graph originally showed a wheat stalk over walking feet — Shuowen even claims wheat was a 'gift from heaven that walked to humans'. Modern compounds are sparse: 麸 (wheat bran), 麴 (yeast / leaven, simplified 曲), 麵 (flour, simplified 面). Most cereal vocabulary moved to 米 / 禾.