umami

American  

[oo-mah-mee] / uˈmɑ mi /

noun

1. a strong meaty taste imparted by glutamate and certain other amino acids: often considered to be one of the basic taste sensations along with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.

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Etymology

Origin of umami

First recorded in 1960–65; from Japanese: literally, “savory quality, delicious taste,” equivalent to uma-, the inflectional stem of umai “(to be) delicious” + -mi, a suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

umami

Eleven reported difficulty detecting specific flavors, particularly sweet, bitter, and umami, the savory taste associated with foods such as mushrooms and broth.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026

Specifically, it amplifies the signals generated when the tongue detects sweet, bitter, and umami flavors.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026

The latter two are your umami foot soldiers.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

The meat was packed with beefy, buttery and umami flavors, without the iron bite of other steaks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

I end up telling them about how we’re studying taste in science, and about umami.

From "Liar & Spy" by Rebecca Stead

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