noun
mochi; glutinous rice cake
A traditional Japanese food made from pounded glutinous rice. Often eaten on special occasions, in soups, or as a sweet snack.
See also: 糯
お正月には家族で餅を食べます。
We eat mochi with the family during the New Year.
この餅は柔らかくておいしい。
This mochi is soft and delicious.
Search-only kanji form (itaiji variant). Not used in modern Japanese.
糯 (もちごめ) refers to the glutinous rice itself, while 餅 is the processed rice cake made from it.
Derived from the verb 持つ (もつ, 'to hold'), possibly referring to the sticky, cohesive nature of the pounded rice. The kanji 餅 is a phono-semantic compound with 食 ('food') and 并 ('to combine').