millet
キビ
解説 Definition
millet は、キビやアワなどの小粒の穀物を指す名詞です。日本語の「ミレット」は食品名として使われることがありますが、英語では複数の雑穀をまとめて指す場合もあります。
Millet is a small-seeded cereal crop, or its edible grain. The term covers several kinds of grasses cultivated for food or animal feed, especially in dry regions where they can grow with relatively little water.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
millet は一種類だけでなく、キビ・アワなど小粒の穀物をまとめて指すことがある。grow millet、cook millet、millet grain の組み合わせと、乾燥地で育ち少ない水でも栽培しやすい場面を結び付ける。mill「ひく機械」と形が似ており、粒をひいて粉や食事にする穀物という連想も記憶の助けになる。
Think of millet as a group of small-grained cereals rather than one single botanical species. Typical combinations are grow millet, cook millet, millet grain, and millet flour. It is especially associated with dry regions because many varieties tolerate heat and require less water than crops such as rice. The spelling also resembles mill, which can help you picture the tiny grains being ground into flour, although millet is its own historically inherited word. Contrast it with wheat or rice, whose grains and common culinary uses are usually more familiar to English learners.
例文
Millet grows well in dry regions.
キビは乾燥した地域でもよく育ちます。
She cooked millet with vegetables for dinner.
彼女は夕食にキビを野菜と一緒に調理しました。
Many farmers choose millet because it needs less water than rice.
多くの農家は、米より少ない水で育つためキビを選びます。
millet の類義語・関連語
millet の語源・成り立ち Etymology
古フランス語 millet を経て、ラテン語 milium「キビ」にさかのぼる語です。さらに印欧祖語 *mele-「砕く・ひく」と結びつくため、粒をひいて食べる穀物という感覚が名前に残っています。関連語は mill, meal です。
Millet came into English through Old French millet, a diminutive form associated with mil, “millet,” and ultimately derives from Latin milium, the name of the grain. A more distant connection with an Indo-European root associated with crushing or grinding has been proposed, but the Old French and Latin history is the secure part of its development. The word now covers several small-seeded cereal grasses rather than a single species.
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