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云雨

雲雨
yúnyǔ
noun #76,863

Meanings

  1. 1 clouds and rain (literal)
  2. 2 sexual intercourse (euphemism, literary)

Examples

山间云雨变幻莫测。
Shān jiān yúnyǔ biànhuàn mòcè.
The clouds and rain among the mountains shift unpredictably.
两人共赴巫山云雨。
Liǎng rén gòng fù Wūshān yúnyǔ.
The two of them shared the clouds and rain of Mount Wu (i.e. made love).

Tips

history
The erotic sense traces to Song Yu's 《高唐赋》 (Gāotáng Fù, c. 3rd century BCE): King Huai of Chu dreams of a goddess on Mount Wu (巫山, Wūshān) who tells him she is 'morning clouds, evening rain' (旦为朝云，暮为行雨). Ever since, 巫山云雨 (Wūshān yúnyǔ) has been the classical Chinese euphemism for lovemaking — softer and more poetic than direct vocabulary.
register
Literary/euphemistic register only. In daily modern speech for the literal weather sense, prefer 云和雨 or just 下雨 (xiàyǔ); for the romantic sense, you'll mainly meet 云雨 in classical poetry, period dramas, and novels.

Stroke Order

云 yún
雨 yǔ