麦 (mài) · wheat, barley

Meanings

1 wheat
2 barley

Examples

HSK 5

农民在这个地区种小麦和大麦。

Nóngmín zài zhège dìqū zhòng xiǎomài hé dàmài.

Farmers grow wheat and barley in this region.

HSK 5

请把麦克风递给我。

Qǐng bǎ màikèfēng dì gěi wǒ.

Please pass me the microphone.

HSK 7-9

秋天麦田变成金黄色。

Qiūtiān màitián biànchéng jīnhuángsè.

The wheat fields turn golden in autumn.

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.