雲
cloud
Readings
On'yomi
- ウン
Kun'yomi
- くも
- -ぐも
Nanori
- き
- ずも
- のめ
Meaning
雲 centers on visible masses of water droplets or ice crystals in the sky: a cloud.
Most common words using 雲
20 of 271- 雲くもN4
cloud
- 出雲いずも
Izumo (former province located in the east of present-day Shimane Prefecture)
- 雲母うんも
mica; isinglass
- 星雲せいうん
nebula
- 八雲やくも
thick clouds
- 東雲しののめ
daybreak; dawn; aurora
- 雲雀ひばりN1
skylark (Alauda arvensis)
- 雨雲あまぐもN1
rain cloud
- 風雲ふううん
winds and clouds; nature; the elements
- 雲海うんかい
sea of clouds
- 叢雲むらくも
gathering clouds; group of clouds
- 雲呑ワンタン
wonton (Chinese dumpling); won ton; wantan; wanton; wuntun
- 彩雲さいうん
iridescent clouds; glowing clouds
- 雲行きくもゆき
weather; look of the sky
- 積乱雲せきらんうん
cumulonimbus cloud
- 暗雲あんうん
dark clouds
- 瑞雲ずいうん
auspicious clouds
- 闇雲やみくもN1
reckless; (at) random; haphazard; blind; sudden; abrupt
- 雲泥の差うんでいのさ
wide difference; a world of difference
- 水雲もずく
mozuku (Cladosiphon okamuranus and Sphaerotrichia divaricata, types of edible seaweed)
Study
Etymology
雲 combines 雨 (rain) with 云, which originally depicted swirling vapor and also provides the sound. Together they express a rain-bearing cloud.
Meaning mnemonic
Rain 雨 gathers above swirling vapor 云, forming a cloud.
Reading mnemonic
For ウン, imagine a cloud so thick it makes the sky look like a woolly un (a playful sound for 'oon'): un -> ウン, and the cloud darkens the sky.