HSK 5 · Society

雷 léi “thunder” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 雷 means

  1. thunder
  2. (bound form) (military) mine, as in 地雷 land mine
  3. (coll.) to shock
  4. to stun
  5. to astound

How to say 雷

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale雷léi2nd tone, rising

雷 in a sentence

  1. 雷声吓到孩子了。

    Léishēng xià dào háizi le.

    The thunder frightened the children.

    Sentence #838508 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 外面打雷了，我很害怕！

    Wàimiàn dǎléi le, wǒ hěn hàipà!

    It’s thundering outside. I’m really scared!

    Sentence #2300183 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我听到了远处的雷声。

    Wǒ tīngdào le yuǎnchù de léishēng.

    I heard thunder in the distance.

    Sentence #10322329 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 雷 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 雷 (léi) with each of its parts in a different colour
雷léithunder
  • 雨rain · yǔ
  • 田field · tián

How to write 雷

雷 13 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

雷 (léi) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 雷 (léi). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 雷

Words with 雷

雷达léidá · radar

More words: Society & Law

婚姻hūnyīn · marriage集体jítǐ · collective (decision)纪律jìlǜ · discipline军事jūnshì · military affairs理论lǐlùn · theory命令mìnglìng · order批准pīzhǔn · to approve枪qiāng · gun

FAQs

雷 (léi) means “thunder” or “(bound form) (military) mine, as in 地雷 land mine”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it léi: léi with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 雷 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type lei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 雷 from the suggestions. Typing lei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
雷 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.