Radical 0 9 雷 léi, thunder

Radical 0 9 雷 léi, thunder

“ Listen ! That’s the sound of thunder and lightning ! “

In its ancient form the character雷 léi  makes you think of a bolt of lightning together with thunder. The four wheels symbolise the noise made by the thunder. In older times people thought the noise was made by the chariots of the divinities rolling along the roads in the sky and making lots of noise. With time, the present form was created with just one wheel and the character was added to the radical雨Yǔ rain since we usually get thunder when it rains.

The character雷 léi means thunder. When we get thunder we say 打雷Dǎléi.

Primitive men thought thunder was a god because when thunder and lightning struck they sometimes caused disasters and frightened people, causing them to hide away in caves. All this makes us wonder about the great mysterious force we have over our heads.

The ancient Chinese thought that this atmospheric phenomenon was caused by 雷公Léigōng the god of thunder and 電母Diàn mǔ the goddess of lightening. They were gods of justice because they were thought to punish bad people. It was said善有善報,惡有惡報 shàn yǒu shàn bào , è yǒu è bào  “Good acts lead to good things and bad acts lead to bad things“, like the expression “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword” The result of your acts will one day have an influence on your life. All this implies the presence of a universal law of nature which ancient people feared and respected.         

 

Translated by Neil Berry