漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
雲: cloud
- 雨rain(meaning)
- 云(sound)
雨 carries the meaning · 云 gives the sound
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
ウンun · on'yomi · in compounds
- 雲海うんかいsea of clouds
- 暗雲あんうんdark clouds
- 積乱雲せきらんうんcumulonimbus cloud
- 雲泥の差うんでいのさa world of difference
くもkumo · kun'yomi · on its own
- 雲くもcloud
- 雲行きくもゆきweather, situation
-ぐも-gumo · kun'yomi
- 雨雲あまぐもrain cloud
- 入道雲にゅうどうぐもcumulonimbus (cloud)
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 出雲大社いずもたいしゃIzumo shrine
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)雨 rain (meaning) + 云 cloud (sound)
Originally written 云, with the 雨 radical added to 云 to distinguish from the borrowed sense of “to speak”.
Source: Wiktionary, 雲 (rev. 92202140), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Rain + rising steam (云) = the swirling moisture in the sky that eventually becomes rain.”
Connections
Also built on 云
雲 takes the 云 family's reading, ウン (un).
Also read ウン
3 kanji share this on'yomiEasy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSimplified 云 · traditional, as in Japanese · yún
Japan keeps the traditional form 雲; mainland China simplifies it to 云.
- Simplified
- 云 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 雲 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin yún most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.