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霰

xiàn
noun #90,846

Meanings

  1. 1 graupel; soft hail
  2. 2 snow pellets

Examples

下雪前，先下起了霰。
Xiàxuě qián, xiān xià qǐ le xiàn.
Before the snow fell, graupel rattled down first.
霰落地时会反跳破碎。
Xiàn luò dì shí huì fǎntiào pòsuì.
Soft hail bounced and shattered when it hit the ground.

Tips

memory
Rain radical 雨 on top over 散 (to scatter): frozen droplets that 'scatter down' from the sky — the soft white pellets that often fall just before snow.

Components

radical
雨 yǔ
rain; precipitation
Top 雨 (rain), the indexing radical. It marks 霰 as a form of precipitation, alongside 雪 (snow) and 雹 (hail).
phonetic
散 sàn
to scatter; phonetic
Bottom 散 supplies the sound (sàn drifting to xiàn) and a fitting image: tiny ice pellets scattering down and bouncing apart on the ground.

Stroke Order

霰 xiàn