The kanji 米 represents "rice" or "uncooked rice". It is a fundamental kanji character, crucial for understanding many words related to food, agriculture, and measurement. It specifically refers to the grains of rice.

・On-yomi (音読み): ベイ(bei) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): こめ(kome)

⚫︎お米(okome) Translation: rice (polite or formal) ⚫︎米粉(beiko) Translation: rice flour ⚫︎アメリカ(Amerika) Translation: America (literally "rice country")

The kanji 米 is a pictograph. It originally depicted the stalks of rice with the grains visible. The top part represents the stalk, and the lines below represent the grains of rice. Over time, the form simplified, and the character became what it is today.