Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 米 (mǐ) originally depicted a stalk of rice with grains, showing the distinctive separation between rice grains. In oracle bone script, it appeared as grains hanging from a central stalk. Over time, the character simplified to its current form while retaining the cross-shaped structure representing the separated grains. The character fundamentally means 'rice' or 'grain' and serves as a radical for words related to food and grains. In Chinese, it can also refer to meter (from the French 'mètre') in modern usage, but its primary meaning remains agricultural. Arrived in Japan: The character 米 arrived in Japan during the Yayoi period (approximately 300 BCE - 300 CE) along with the actual cultivation of rice from the Asian mainland. The character was formally introduced as part of the writing system between the 5th and 6th centuries CE when Chinese characters (kanji) were systematically adopted for writing Japanese. The Japanese reading 'kome' or 'mai' for rice reflects the native Japanese term, while the on'yomi reading 'bei' or 'mai' comes from Chinese.