麥

麥 (Kangxi radical 199, 麥+0, 11 strokes, cangjie input 十人弓戈 (JONI), four-corner 4020₇, composition ⿱來夊)

1. Kangxi radical #199, ⿆.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/麥
• 𠍅, 嘜, 𫝾, 𫆯, 𬗴, 䥑, 𮩍, 䮮, 𪄳, 𫉍, 䨫, 𫭑

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1512, character 8
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 47717
• Dae Jaweon: page 2041, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4600, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9EA5

Historical forms of the character 麥
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mrɯːɡ) : phonetic 來 (OC *m·rɯːɡ) + semantic 夊 (“foot; to walk slowly”). 來 was the original character for “wheat”. Several possible interpretations:

• This character originally meant “to come”. Because the simpler 來 was commonly used for this (borrowed) sense, its original meaning (“wheat”) switched with 麥.
• 夊 represents the ancient concept that wheat came from the heavens.
• 夊 represents growth of the wheat plant.

Etymologically unrelated to 來 (OC *m·rɯːɡ, “to come”). Schuessler (2007) suggests it is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m‑rə(k) (“buckwheat”) and cognate with Tibetan བྲ་བོ (bra bo, “buckwheat”); also compare Proto-Lolo-Burmese *g-ra² (“buckwheat”). STEDT compares 麥 (OC *mrɯːɡ, “wheat”) to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *bra (“buckwheat”) (provisional).

Starostin (2009), on the other hand, compares 麥 (OC *mrɯːɡ, “wheat”) to Proto-Tungusic *murgi (“barley”), Middle Korean 밇 (milh, “wheat”), Old Japanese 麦 (mugi₁, “wheat; barley”).

麥

1. general term for wheat, barley, oats, ryes, etc.
2. (specifically) wheat
3. (Hainanese) corn; maize
4. Short for 麥克風／麦克风 (màikèfēng, “microphone”).
5. Short for 麥克斯韋／麦克斯韦 (Màikèsīwéi).
6. a surname

   麥嘉／麦嘉 [Cantonese]  ―  mak⁶ gaa¹ [Jyutping]  ―  Karl Maka (Hong Kong actor, born 麥嘉尚 (Mak Kar-sheung))

   • 1949, “客途秋恨”, in 廣東大戲考, 廣東播音界聯誼社, page 238:

     小生繆瑾，乃係蓮仙字，為憶多情妓女，個個麥氏秋娟。 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     小生缪瑾，乃系莲仙字，为忆多情妓女，个个麦氏秋娟。 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     siu² sang¹ mau⁶ gan², naai⁵ hai⁶ lin⁴ sin¹ zi⁶, wai⁶ jik¹ do¹ cing⁴ gei⁶ neoi⁵, go² go³ mak⁶ si⁶ cau¹ gyun¹. [Jyutping]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• (Min Nan) “Entry #8112”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 麦)

1. wheat

• Go-on: みゃく (myaku)
• Kan-on: ばく (baku)
• Kun: むぎ (mugi, 麥)

麥 (eumhun 보리 맥 (bori maek))

1. wheat; barley

• 麥酒 (맥주)

麥: Hán Nôm readings: mạch

1. chữ Hán form of mạch (“barley”).