Word of the day – 嵐 (arashi)

嵐 (arashi), noun = storm

Examples of usage

嵐が来そうです (arashi ga kisō desu)
It looks as if a storm is going to come

嵐が治まりました (arashi ga osamarimashita)
The storm abated

男たちは嵐の夜に出てきました
(otokotachi wa arashi no yoru ni detekimashita
The men went out on a stormy night

This character is a compound of two characters: on top there’s a mountain (山 – yama) and under that there’s the character for wind (風 – kaze). Storms are common in the mountains, so this combination makes sense. Knowing the meanings of the individual parts of compound characters like this can help you to remember them.

In Mandarin this character is pronounced làn means mountain mist, mountain haze, mountain vapor or mist.

Another, more common, Japanese word for storm is 暴風 (bōfū)