Word
曇り
Meaning in Englishcloudy
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
曇り means the state of being obscured by clouds, primarily used to describe weather, and it can also denote a figurative lack of clarity.
Main meanings
- overcast weather, describing the sky when clouds cover the sun
- haze or fog that reduces visibility
- metaphorical obscurity, ambiguity, or lack of clarity in thinking or expression
- 曇りがち describes a tendency toward cloudier weather
How to use it
Used as a noun to denote weather conditions; common in meteorology, journalism, and everyday speech. In formal writing, 曇り is used; in casual speech, 曇りです is common; compounds include 曇天 and 曇り空.
Variants and close terms
- 曇天 donten — overcast sky
- 曇りがち kumori gachi — tendency toward cloudiness
- 曇りの空 kumori no sora — cloudy sky
- 霧 kiri — fog
- 霞 kasumi — haze
Composition
- 曇: cloud, haze, obscurity
- り: noun-forming suffix turning the verb 曇る into the noun 曇り, representing the state of being cloudy
Word class
Noun (名詞)