雲

雲 (Kangxi radical 173, 雨+4, 12 strokes, cangjie input 一月一一戈 (MBMMI), four-corner 1073₁, composition ⿱⻗云)

1. Shuōwén Jiězì radical №423

• 澐, 墵, 橒, 繧, 蕓, 曇, 䉙, 䨺, 𠎉, 𡢅, 𧬞, 𣊯, 𬎌, 𥢚, 𥖅, 𨝽, 𠟙

• 𩃬

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1372, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 42235
• Dae Jaweon: page 1879, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4058, character 9
• Unihan data for U+96F2

Historical forms of the character 雲
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢun) : semantic 雨 (“rain”) + phonetic 云 (OC *ɢun, “cloud”). Originally written 云, with the 雨 radical added to 云 to distinguish from the borrowed sense of “to speak”.

Very few outside cognates exist. Starostin compares it with Mizo vân (“sky, the skies, heaven”) and Karbi inghun (“cloud”).

Alternatively, this is a derivation from a root meaning “to revolve”. Compare 運 (OC *ɢuns, “to move”), 回 (OC *ɡuːl, “to whirl, to circle”) (Schuessler, 2007).

雲

1. cloud (Classifier: 片 m; 朵 m; 嚿 c)

   • 上天同雲，雨雪雰雰。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     上天同云，雨雪氛氛。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Shàngtiān tóng yún, yǔxuě fēnfēn. [Pinyin]

     The heavens over head are one arch of clouds, snowing in multitudinous flakes.

   • 化而為鳥，其名為鵬。鵬之背，不知其幾千里也；怒而飛，其翼若垂天之雲。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     化而为鸟，其名为鹏。鹏之背，不知其几千里也；怒而飞，其翼若垂天之云。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Huà ér wéi niǎo, qí míng wéi Péng. Péng zhī bèi, bùzhī qí jǐ qiān lǐ yě; nù ér fēi, qí yì ruò chuítiān zhī yún. [Pinyin]

     [This fish] changes into a bird with the name of Peng, the back of which is I do not know how many miles in extent. When this bird rouses itself and flies, its wings are like clouds all round the sky.

2. (computing) cloud
3. (figurative) many; numerous
4. Short for 雲南／云南 (Yúnnán, “Yunnan”).
5. a surname

• “雲”, 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–

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: うん (un, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: うん (un, Jōyō)
• Kun: くも (kumo, 雲, Jōyō); そら (sora, 雲)
• Nanori: も (mo); ゆく (yuku)

雲 (kumo): an anvil-shaped cumulonimbus cloud

⟨kumo₁⟩ → */kumʷo/ → /kumo/

From Old Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kumo.

Possibly an ancient nativized borrowing from Old Chinese 雲 (*ɢun).

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.[1]

• (Tokyo) く​も [kúꜜmò] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ᵝmo̞]

雲(くも) • (kumo) 

1. a cloud (visible mass of water droplets or other related material suspended in the air)
2. (by extension) of how clouds are widely spread:
   1. something spreading over like clouds in the sky
   2. something clouded, foggy, or gloomy
3. (by extension) of how clouds are high above in the sky:
   1. the sky, heavens
   2. a person or object of higher rank or status
   3. something clouded, obscure, or unusual
4. (by extension) the smoke during cremation that is thought to be the soul of the deceased person ascending into the heavens
5. a style of 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) with a design of cloud(s), usually associated with major Buddhist temples

For quotations using this term, see Citations:雲.

雲(くも) • (Kumo) 

1. a surname

From Middle Chinese 雲 (MC hjun).

雲(うん) • (un) 

1. cloud
2. (figuratively) high, tall, far-off, or distant
3. (historical) Short for 出雲国 (Izumo-no-kuni): Izumo Province