麦 means “wheat, barley”

むぎ · mugi

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

むぎ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

バク

JLPT N2 · Taught in grade 2 · 7 strokes

The story

A stalk of grain above a walking foot (夂): picture 麦踏み, the winter custom of treading young wheat so it roots firmly. 小麦 is wheat, 大麦 barley, and cold 麦茶, roasted barley tea, sits in Japanese fridges all summer.

Used in 小麦 (komugi, wheat), 麦茶 (mugicha, barley tea), and 大麦 (oomugi, barley)

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Learn 麦 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.