Umami /uːˈmɑːmi/, popularly referred to as savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes together with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Umami is a loanword from the Japanese umami (うま味^?) meaning "pleasant savory taste". This particular writing was chosen by Professor Kikunae Ikeda from umai (うまい) "delicious" and mi (味) "taste". The Chinese characters 旨味 are used for a more general meaning to describe a food as delicious.

The human tongue has receptors for L-glutamate, which is the source of umami flavor. As such, scientists consider umami to be distinct from saltiness.