雷

léi

thunder

surname Lei; (bound form) (military) mine, as in 地雷[di4 lei2] land mine; (coll.) to shock; to stun; to astound; (Tw) (coll.) spoiler; (Tw) (coll.) to reveal plot details to (sb)

rain (雨) + field (田) = thunder

The ancient form showed rain clouds with drumlike rumbles below — the fields beneath a storm captured the crack of thunder. Both components work semantically: rain brings the storm, and 田 likely echoes the round, drum-shaped thunderbolts in early pictographic versions.

雨+田→雷
田FieldSemantic
雨RainSemantic

外面打雷了,孩子们都有点害怕。

wài miàn dǎ léi le , hái zi men dōu yǒu diǎn hài pà 。

It is thundering outside, and the children are all a little scared.

他说的话真的把我雷到了,我完全没想到。

tā shuō de huà zhēn de bǎ wǒ léi dào le , wǒ wán quán méi xiǎng dào 。

What he said really astounded me — I had absolutely not expected it.

Words with 雷

雷亚尔

léi yà ěr

real (Brazilian currency) (loanword)

雷阵雨

léi zhèn yǔ

thundershower

暴跳如雷

bào tiào rú léi

to stamp with fury; to fly into a rage

爆雷

bào léi

(of a P2P lending platform) to collapse

苏克雷

sū kè léi

Sucre, constitutional capital of Bolivia

雷神

léi shén

god of thunder (Chinese Leigong 雷公[Lei2 gong1], Norse Thor 索爾|索尔[Suo3 er3], Greek Zeus 宙斯[Zhou4 si1] etc)

雷厉风行

léi lì fēng xíng

pass like thunder and move like the wind (idiom); swift and decisive reaction

坎特伯雷

kǎn tè bó léi

Canterbury

地雷

dì léi

land mine (CL:顆|颗[ke1])

布雷

bù léi

to lay mines

格雷

gé léi

Grey

雷峰塔

léi fēng tǎ

Leifeng Pagoda, by West Lake until it was destroyed (also from Madam White Snake)

More characters with 雨

露霢霉霈