The kanji for rain has raindrops in it (雨)

The kanji for rain, 雨 (ame), still looks like what it means: a line of sky, a cloud under it, and four drops of rain falling inside. It’s the kanji in everyday words like 大雨 (ooame), heavy rain, and 雨傘 (amagasa), umbrella. Once you can see the drops, you’ll find the same rain on top of other weather kanji: 雪, snow, and 雷, thunder.

What the kanji say

雨 (ame, u) is rain. The Shuowen Jiezi, a Chinese dictionary from around 100 CE, reads the shape stroke by stroke: the top line is the sky, the box shape hanging from it is a cloud, and water is falling in between. The four short strokes are the drops.

雪 (yuki, setsu) is snow. It has 雨 on top, and underneath, ⺕, a cut-down form of 彗, a broom.

雷 (kaminari, rai) is thunder: 雨 on top of what looks like 田, a rice field.

When 雨 sits on top of another kanji, it’s flattened, and its four drops get shorter. Japanese has a name for this squashed version: 雨冠 (amekanmuri), the rain crown.

Where it really comes from

For 雨 itself, the picture is the history. It has been drawn as rain falling from a cloud since the oldest forms, carved on oracle bones more than 3,000 years ago.

The other two need a little more care.

The broom in 雪 is mostly there for its sound. Chinese dictionaries describe 雪 as 雨 for the meaning plus 彗 for the sound. “Rain you can sweep up” is still a handy way to remember it.

The 田 in 雷 isn’t a field. The older form, 靁, had three of these shapes under the rain, and the Shuowen Jiezi describes them as something rolling and turning. 雷 is a shortened form that keeps just one. The Japanese word is a picture of its own: kaminari comes from 神 (kami), a god, and 鳴り (nari), from 鳴る (naru), to sound or rumble. Thunder was a god making a noise.

One more relative: 電 (den) is 雨 over a drawing of lightning. It first meant lightning, and today it means electricity, as in 電気 (denki).

How to read 雨

• あめ (ame) on its own: 雨が降る (ame ga furu), it rains.
• あま (ama) at the start of many compound words: 雨傘 (amagasa), umbrella, 雨宿り (amayadori), sheltering from the rain.
• さめ (same) at the end of some: 小雨 (kosame), light rain, and 春雨 (harusame), gentle spring rain.
• う (u) in Chinese-style words: 雨天 (uten), rainy weather, and 雷雨 (raiu), a thunderstorm.
• 梅雨 (tsuyu), the rainy season of early summer, has a reading all its own.

• 雨が降っています。

  Ame ga futte imasu.

  It's raining.

• 午後から雨だって。

  Gogo kara ame datte.

  Apparently it'll start raining in the afternoon.

• 雪が降ってきた！

  Yuki ga futte kita!

  It's started snowing!

• 雷が鳴っている。

  Kaminari ga natte iru.

  It's thundering.

• 雨宿りしましょう。

  Amayadori shimashou.

  Let's shelter from the rain.

Rain and snow both “fall” with 降る (furu), and thunder “sounds” with 鳴る (naru).

Words with the same kanji

Remember it

Four drops falling from a cloud: 雨. Put it on top of another kanji and the weather changes. Sweep it up and it’s snow (雪); let it rumble and it’s thunder (雷).

The kanji in this lesson

Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Sources

• Dong Chinese: 雨
• Dong Chinese: 雪
• Dong Chinese: 靁 (old form of 雷)
• Wiktionary: 雷 (Japanese etymology)

Written by the Sumi team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict and KANJIDIC2. How we write lessons. Spotted a mistake? Email brightsmilesolutionssupport@gmail.com.