It’s been a wet, wet week up here in Edmonton. So, what better way to stay warm (and dry) than by studying? Let’s work on some vocabulary for discussing the weather.
- 雨 【あめ】 (n) rain
- 降り込める; 降り籠める 【ふりこめる】 (v1,vt) to rain (or snow), keeping people indoors
- 水たまり; 水溜まり; 水溜り 【みずたまり】 (n) puddle; pool of water
- 雨合羽 【あまがっぱ】 (n) raincoat; oilcoat
- 傘 【かさ】 (n) umbrella; parasol
- 茸(P); 蕈; 菌 【キノコ(P); きのこ; たけ】 (n) mushroom
- 蚯蚓 【みみず; めめず; きゅういん】 (n) earthworm
I especially like some of the kanji we’re finding in this list. 雨’s imagery of falling raindrops from heaven (天) makes it fairly easy to remember and recognize, and 傘’s imagery of several people (人) huddled under an umbrella is also particularly handy as a mnemonic. 振り込める might be tricky, a combination of 振る (to come down, as rain tends to) and 込める (to put into; notice the 入 radical for “enter”). 雨合羽 is an interesting bird, with the obvious 雨 matched up with the seemingly nonsensical 合, which seems to mean “0.3306 meters squared wing”. It’s actually a word that was chosen because it sounds like the Portuguese word for raincoat, “capa”.
