Umami
/uːˈmɑː.mi/noun
A savory taste associated especially with glutamate-rich foods such as meat, mushrooms, seaweed, and aged cheese.
Did you know?Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda coined “umami” after identifying glutamate as the substance behind the savory taste of kombu seaweed broth in 1908.
Etymological Timeline
Old Japanese
Japanese
umashi
“Delicious, excellent, or pleasing to the taste”
Medieval Japanese
Japanese
umai
“Tasty or delicious”
Early Modern Japanese
Japanese
mi
“Taste or flavor; a noun-forming element in this compound”
1908
Japanese
umami
“Term coined by Kikunae Ikeda for the distinctive savory taste of glutamate”
20th Century
English
umami
“A Japanese culinary term adopted into English for the savory taste”
Modern English
English
umami
“The fifth basic taste, alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter”