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u·me·bo·shi

(′mə-bōshē)

n. pl. umeboshi

The pickled and often dried fruit of the Japanese apricot tree. The fruit are often referred to as "plums."

[Japanese : ume, Japanese apricot (from Old Japanese ume, mume, of Old Chinese origin; akin to Cantonese mui⁴ and Mandarin méi, both from Middle Chinese mwəj) + boshi, combining form (with regular change of h to b) of hoshi, a drying, verbal noun of hosu, to dry (from Old Japanese posu).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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