雷

Han character

雷 (Kangxi radical 173, 雨+5, 13 strokes, cangjie input 一月田 (MBW), four-corner 1060₃, composition ⿱⻗田)

Glyph origin

Ancient simplification of 靁, which was a phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ruːl): semantic 雨 (“rain”) + phonetic 畾 (OC *ruːl).

Etymology

The Northern Min initial s- may be due to the loss of a pre-initial which might have been a velar considering dialect forms in Henan, Hebei and Shanxi, e.g. Taiyuan Jin 忽雷 (hueh4 lui1) (Schuessler, 2007).

Perhaps from Sino-Tibetan. Compare Mizo râwl (“voice; cry (of an animal); sound”), Tibetan ཁྲོལ (khrol).

"spoiler"

Clipping of 捏他八雷 (niētābāléi), from Japanese ネタバレ (netabare).

"loyalty"

By homophony of 二 (ji⁶, “two”) and 義 / 义 (ji⁶, “spirit of loyalty”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

雷

1. thunder

   打雷  ―  dǎ léi  ―  to thunder

   電閃雷鳴／电闪雷鸣  ―  diànshǎnléimíng  ―  lightning flashes and thunder rumbles

   • 殷其靁，在南山之陽。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     殷其靁，在南山之阳。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Yīn qí léi, zài Nánshān zhī yáng. [Pinyin]

     Grandly rolls the thunder,
     On the south of the southern hill!

   • 鳳銜金榜出雲來，平地一聲雷。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     凤衔金榜出云来，平地一声雷。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. 9th century, Wei Zhuang, 喜遷鶯

     Fèng xián jīnbǎng chū yún lái, píngdì yī shēng léi. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (in compounds) lightning

   避雷針／避雷针  ―  bìléizhēn  ―  lightning rod

   雷擊／雷击  ―  léijī  ―  lightning strike

3. (military, weaponry, in compounds) explosive device; mine

   魚雷／鱼雷  ―  yúléi  ―  torpedo

   手雷  ―  shǒuléi  ―  grenade

   雷區／雷区  ―  léiqū  ―  minefield

   排雷  ―  páiléi  ―  to demine

4. (colloquial) to astonish; to shock
5. (colloquial) astonishment; surprise

   內容有雷／内容有雷  ―  nèiróng yǒu léi  ―  (slang) shocking content ahead

6. Short for 雷州 (Léizhōu, “Leizhou”).

   雷劇／雷剧  ―  léijù  ―  Leizhou opera

7. (neologism) burdensome
8. (neologism) to be burden to others
9. (Taiwan, neologism) plot spoiler

   Synonyms: 捏他 (niētā), 劇透 / 剧透 (jùtòu)

10. (Hong Kong Cantonese, triad slang) two
11. (Hong Kong Cantonese, slang) loyalty
12. a surname

    雷震  ―  Léi Zhèn  ―  Lei Chen (Chinese dissident who founded the Free China Journal in Taiwan)

References

• “雷”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #10313”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.