cirrocumulus cloud; mackerel sky
A sky filled with small, rippled clouds resembling the scales of a mackerel. Often used in weather-related or poetic descriptions.
Mackerel clouds are spreading across the autumn sky.
When mackerel clouds appear, the weather often turns for the worse.
Standard kanji spelling; the kanji 鯖 (mackerel) directly evokes the mackerel-skin pattern.
Mixed kana-kanji spelling; less common but still seen.
Compound of 鯖 (さば, mackerel) and 雲 (くも, cloud), from the resemblance of the cloud pattern to mackerel scales.