Snow character

Snow or snowfall. 雪 is used for snow in Chinese writing, Japanese kanji, and Korean Hanja; in a phrase it can name snow or describe snowfall.

An early form appears in oracle-bone divinations, inscriptions made on bone or shell for ritual questions. A fuller form appears in bronze inscriptions from the late Western Zhou; later written forms were shortened into 雪.

Traditional character analysis reads the older, fuller form 䨮 as 雨 for the weather meaning and 彗 for sound. This describes the older form's structure, not how to pronounce 雪 today.

Is 雪 Chinese, Japanese, or Korean?

It appears in all three traditions. Mandarin reads it xuě, written in pinyin; Japanese uses yuki as its native reading and setsu in compounds; Korean Hanja reads it 설, romanized as seol. The glyph alone does not identify the language, so check the surrounding words.

What does 雪辱 mean?

Clearing disgrace or regaining honor. In compounds such as 雪辱 and 雪冤, 雪 has the extended sense of wiping away: 雪辱 concerns disgrace, while 雪冤 concerns clearing an injustice or wrongful accusation. These are specific compound meanings, not a general replacement for “snow.”