米(こめ)

米(こめ) is rice as a grain — the raw material, before it is cooked.

THE こめ / ごはん BOUNDARY:
The switch happens at the rice cooker. You buy, wash, store, and harvest 米(こめ); the moment it is cooked it becomes ご飯(はん), and that is also the word on the table and on the menu. Asking for 米(こめ) at a restaurant would sound like asking for a bag of grain.

Rice vocabulary

• 米(こめ): uncooked rice
• ご飯(はん): cooked rice; by extension, a meal
• 稲(いね): the rice plant growing in the field
• 玄米(げんまい): brown rice
• 白米(はくまい): white (polished) rice
• 新米(しんまい): the year's new crop — and, figuratively, a novice

Pronunciation

Alone the word is こめ, but in compounds 米(べい) is the usual reading: 米(べい)価(か) (rice prices), 新(しん)米(まい) above. The same character also stands for America, as in 米(べい)国(こく).

Measuring

Sold by the キロ, but cooked by the 合(ごう) — a traditional unit of about 180 ml that rice cookers and recipes still use.

Cultural note

Rice is Japan's staple crop, and the language keeps the trace: ご飯(はん) means both 'cooked rice' and 'meal', so in everyday speech eating and eating rice are the same word.