noun
Archaic literary term for a rainbow; in modern Japanese, 虹 (にじ) is the standard word.
古典では「虹霓」が空に架かる様子を詠んだ歌がある。
In classical literature, there are poems that describe a '虹霓' spanning the sky.
The modern, everyday word for 'rainbow'. 虹霓 is its archaic, literary counterpart.
From Chinese 虹霓 (hóngní), an archaic compound for 'rainbow'. The exact historical derivation in Japanese is uncertain; it is preserved mainly in classical texts.