雷
Meaning in Englishthunder, lightning, thunderstorm
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
雷 means thunder; a natural phenomenon—the loud sound produced by a storm's lightning—and is used to denote this weather event in Japanese; it serves as the base noun for related storm terms.
Main meanings
- thunder—the loud sound produced by a storm
- storm-related phenomena in compounds and meteorological contexts
- metaphorical use to imply power, impact, or danger
How to use it
Used in weather reports, educational texts, literature, and everyday speech; formal use occurs in meteorology and scientific writing, while casual speech uses it in descriptive narration about storms and natural events.
Variants and close terms
- 雷鳴 raimei — thunderclap
- 稲妻 inazuma — lightning
Composition
- 雷 is a single kanji whose semantic core is the thunder phenomenon; there are no subcomponents forming a compound for this word
Etymology
雷 is a single kanji of pictographic origin representing a thunderbolt; its readings include rai (on'yomi) and kaminari (kun'yomi), illustrating mixed reading traditions in Japanese.
Origin
Ancient usage in Japanese language and myth, with thunder gods and weather lore shaping everyday language.
Word class
Noun (名詞)