电

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The Chinese character 电 (diàn) for "electricity" is composed of two parts: 雨 (yǔ) meaning "rain" and 申 (shēn) meaning "extend". The character 电 originally meant "lightning", which is a natural phenomenon associated with rain and electricity. Over time, the meaning of 电 expanded to include all forms of electricity, including man-made electricity.The character 电 is a pictophonetic compound, where the phonetic component 申 (shēn) provides a clue to its pronunciation and the semantic component 雨 (yǔ) indicates its meaning. The character 申 is also used in other Chinese characters related to electricity, such as 电池 (diànchí) "battery" and 电话 (diànhuà) "telephone".The character 电 is a relatively new character in the Chinese language, having only been introduced in the late 19th century to translate the Western concept of electricity. However, it has quickly become one of the most commonly used characters in modern Chinese, reflecting the importance of electricity in our daily lives.