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Definition 2024

雷

雷

Translingual

Han character

雷 (radical 173 雨+5, 13 strokes, cangjie input 一月田 (MBW), four-corner 10603, composition ⿱⻗田)

Derived characters

References

  • KangXi: page 1372, character 14
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 42245
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1881, character 3
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 4060, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+96F7

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 雷
alt. forms
 
𩇓
𤴐
𩂩
𤳳
䨓
𩄣
靁
㗊
𤴑

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (畾) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
摞 *roːl, *roːls
騾 *roːl
螺 *roːl
蔂 *roːl, *rul
虆 *roːl, *rul
瘰 *roːlʔ
礌 *ruːl, *ruːls
雷 *ruːl
擂 *ruːl, *ruːls
攂 *ruːl, *ruːls
礧 *ruːll, *ruːlʔ, *ruːls
儡 *ruːl, *ruːlʔ, *ruːls
瓃 *ruːl, *rul, *ruls
櫑 *ruːl, *ruːlʔ
鑘 *ruːl, *ruːlʔ
鐳 *ruːl
畾 *ruːl
轠 *ruːl, *rulʔ
罍 *ruːl
蕾 *ruːlʔ
癗 *ruːlʔ
磥 *ruːlʔ
累 *ruːls, *rolʔ, *rols
儽 *ruːls, *rul
樏 *rolʔ, *rul
鸓 *rul, *rulʔ
嫘 *rul
纍 *rul, *ruls
欙 *rul
纝 *rul
壘 *rulʔ
櫐 *rulʔ
蘽 *rulʔ
藟 *rulʔ
讄 *rulʔ

Ancient simplification of 靁, which was a phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ruːl) : semantic 雨 ‎(“rain”) + phonetic 畾 ‎(OC *ruːl).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 雷
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 來 (37)
Final (韻) 灰 (42)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Closed
Division (等) I
Fanqie 魯回切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /luʌi/
Pan
Wuyun		 /luoi/
Shao
Rongfen		 /luɒi/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /lwəj/
Li
Rong		 /luᴀi/
Wang
Li		 /luɒi/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /luɑ̆i/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 léi
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 雷
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 léi
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ lwoj ›
Old
Chinese		 /*C.rˤuj/
English thunder

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 雷
Reading # 1/1
No. 7707
Phonetic
component		 畾
Rime
group		 微
Rime
subdivision		 2
Corresponding
MC rime		 雷
Old
Chinese		 /*ruːl/

Definitions

雷

  1. thunder
  2. (military) mine
  3. (colloquial) to astonish; to dumbfound; to amaze
  4. A surname​.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

雷

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

雷 (kaminari, kannari, ikazuchi, narukami, rai): thunder and lightning.
Kanji in this term
雷
かみなり
Grade: S
kun'yomi

Compound of 神 ‎(kami, “god, spirit”) +‎ 鳴り ‎(nari, “the 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 鳴る naru, “to cry out, to call””).[1][2]

Pronunciation

Noun

雷 ‎(hiragana かみなり, romaji kaminari)

  1. thunder (the sound)
  2. lightning, a thunderbolt
Usage notes

This kaminari reading is the most common reading when used as a standalone noun.

Synonyms
Idioms
  • 雷 (かみなり)が落 (お)ちる ‎(kaminari ga ochiru): “the thunder comes down” → to be scolded severely by a superior, to be ripped a new one

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
雷
かんなり
Grade: S
kun'yomi

/kaminari/ → /kannari/

Shift in pronunciation from kaminari above.[1][2]

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

雷 ‎(hiragana かんなり, romaji kannari)

  1. (rare, archaic) thunder (the sound)
  2. (rare, archaic) lightning, a thunderbolt

Proper noun

雷 ‎(hiragana かんなり, romaji Kannari)

  1. (rare, archaic) short for 雷の壺 ‎(Kaminari no Tsubo, literally “thunder pot”), one of the five buildings in the imperial palace in ancient 平安京 ‎(Heian Kyō, “Heian-kyō”, modern-day Kyōto)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
雷
いかずち
Grade: S
kun'yomi

/ika t͡su t͡ɕi/ → /ikad͡ʑut͡ɕi/ → /ikazut͡ɕi/

From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of 厳 ‎(ika, “sternness, terribleness, imposingness”) +‎ つ ‎(tsu, Old Japanese possessive particle) +‎ 霊 ‎(chi, “spirit, force, essence”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

Noun

雷 ‎(hiragana いかずち, romaji ikazuchi, historical hiragana いかづち)

  1. (rare, archaic) something ferocious and imposing, a demon or devil
  2. (rare, archaic) thunder (the sound)
  3. (rare, archaic) lightning, a thunderbolt

Etymology 4

Kanji in this term
雷
なるかみ
Grade: S
kun'yomi

Compound of 鳴る ‎(naru, “to cry out, to call”) +‎ 神 ‎(kami, “god, spirit”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

  • 鳴る神, 鳴神

Noun

雷 ‎(hiragana なるかみ, romaji narukami)

  1. (rare) thunder (the sound)
  2. (rare) lightning, a thunderbolt

Proper noun

雷 ‎(hiragana なるかみ, romaji Narukami)

  1. one of the eighteen styles of kabuki
    This sense is more commonly spelled as 鳴神.

Etymology 5

Kanji in this term
雷
らい
Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 雷 ‎(luəi, “thunder”). Compare modern Mandarin reading léi, Cantonese leoi4.

Pronunciation

Noun

雷 ‎(hiragana らい, romaji rai)

  1. (rare) thunder (the sound)
  2. (rare) lightning, a thunderbolt
Usage notes

Used more in compounds than on its own. As a standalone noun, the kaminari reading is the most common.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  3. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

雷 • ‎(roe>noe) (hangeul 뢰>뇌, revised roe>noe, McCune-Reischauer roe>noe, Yale loy>noy)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

雷 (lôi)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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