On All the Rain in 電光朝露

電光朝露 (denkōchōro: fleeting, evanescent)
     lightning (1st 2 chars.) + morning + dew

The rain radical 雨, amekanmuri, appears twice in 電光朝露, keeping this compound very wet.

Last week we saw several kanji with rain radicals:

露 (RO, RŌ, tsuyu: dew)
霜 (shimo: frost)
零 (REI: zero, to spill)

Now we find one more:

電 (DEN: electricity)

These days, people associate 電 (DEN) with electricity, rather than lightning. But that was its original meaning, which makes sense.

Anyway, all this exposure to rain might prompt you to wonder how many more kanji include amekanmuri.

Spahn lists a total of 39! I love Spahn. He’s as thorough as a human can possibly be. Of course, many of Spahn’s 雨 kanji are rare. Here are some of the more mainstream ones:

雷 (RAI, kaminari: thunder)
雪 (SETSU, yuki: snow)
雲 (UN, kumo: cloud)
霧 (MU, kiri: fog)
雰 (FUN, kiri: atmosphere, fog)

This kanji appears in a useful compound:

雰囲気 (fun’iki: atmosphere, air, ambience)     
     atmosphere + surroundings +
     atmosphere

This kanji also shows up in two compounds full of rain:

霧雰 (mufun: misty air)     fog + fog
霜雰 (sōfun: frosty air)     frost + air

震 (SHIN, furu(u), furu(eru): to shake, tremble)

You know this from 地震 (jishin: earthquake, earth + to shake).

需 (JU: request, need, demand)

This character no longer has anything to do with rain, although Henshall says the various components combine to give us “a beard soaked by the rain”! Some useful words:

必需 (hitsuju: necessary)
     without fail + need
需要 (juyō: demand)
     need + to demand

If you combine the two kanji here that aren’t 需, you get this:

必要 (hitsuyō: necessary)
     without fail + to require

Ah, kanji intermingling is so incestuous!

霊 (REI, tama: soul)

We’ve seen this one several times before.

So that’s it for common ones. But I can’t let it go at that. I need to show you some of the crazier amekanmuri concoctions out there:

霹靂 (hekireki: thunderclap)
     thunderclap + thunderbolt

Besides all the strokes, what a great yomi!

靄 (AI, moya: mist, haze, fog)

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