雪

xuě
noun HSK 1 #2,481

Meanings

  1. 1 snow

Characters

Contains 雨 (rain) at top - frozen precipitation.

Examples

HSK 1
Háizi men xǐhuan zài xuě lǐ wán.
Children like to play in the snow.
HSK 2
Wàimiàn xiàxuě le!
It's snowing outside!
HSK 6
Běijīng dōngtiān chángcháng xiàxuě.
It often snows in Beijing in winter.

Tips

grammar
To say 'it snows,' use 下雪 - literally 'fall snow.'
culture
The idiom 雪中送炭 means 'sending charcoal in the snow' - helping someone in their time of need.

Components

radical
雨 yǔ
rain
Top indexing radical 雨 (rain) - marks 雪 as a form of precipitation falling from the sky. Same family as 雷 (thunder), 霜 (frost), 露 (dew), 霞 (mist). The four dots inside represent water droplets, here understood as crystallized into snowflakes.
semantic
彐 jì
hand (sweeping)
Bottom component, originally 彗 (broom) shortened - a hand sweeping. Captures the idea that snow is something one can sweep up. Together with 雨 above, the whole character pictures rain that has settled thickly enough to be brushed away.

Stroke Order

雪 xuě