xià yǔ
rain
下雨了。
xià yǔ le.
It's raining.
今天会下雨吗？
jīntiān huì xià yǔ ma?
Will it rain today?
我带了雨伞，不怕下雨。
wǒ dài le yǔsǎn, bùpà xià yǔ.
I brought an umbrella, so I'm not afraid of the rain.
降雨 (jiàngyǔ)
precipitation
落雨 (luòyǔ)
rainfall
雨水 (yǔshuǐ)
rainwater
晴天 (qíng tiān)
sunny
不下雨 (bù xià yǔ)
not raining
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The Chinese word 下雨 (xià yǔ) for "rain" is composed of two characters: 下 (xià) and 雨 (yǔ). The character 下 originally meant "to descend" or "to go down", and it is often used in compounds to indicate a downward motion or direction. In the context of 下雨, it refers to the rain falling from the sky. The character 雨, on the other hand, is a pictograph that depicts rain falling from the sky. It is one of the oldest Chinese characters, dating back to the oracle bone script of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). When combined, 下雨 literally means "descending rain", which accurately describes the phenomenon of rainfall.
