Meaning of 云
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- cloud
Measure word: 朵
- surname Yun
- short name for Yunnan 雲南|云南[Yun2 nan2]
- (classical) to say
How to use 云
云 (yún) means cloud and is common in weather talk, often inside words like 多云 (duōyún, cloudy) and 乌云 (wūyún, dark clouds). It is also the short name for Yunnan province, as on car plates. Example: 今天多云。(Jīntiān duōyún.) It is cloudy today.
Picture 云 (yún) as a sky scene: the two flat lines 二 on top are layers of sky, and the curling 厶 shape underneath is a puff of cloud drifting below them.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 云 (yún) with 去 (qù, to go), since both have 厶 at the bottom. 去 has 土 on top, while 云 has just two horizontal lines 二.
云 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
云 yún · cloud · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 云.
| 多云 | duōyún | (meteorology) cloudy |
| 乌云 | wūyún | black cloud |
| 风云 | fēngyún | weather; unstable situation |
| 星云 | xīngyún | nebula |
| 云层 | yúncéng | the clouds; cloud layer |
| 云雀 | yúnquè | (bird species of China) Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis) |
| 云彩 | yúncai | (coll.) cloud |
| 云端 | yúnduān | high in the clouds; (computing) the cloud |
| 烟消云散 | yānxiāoyúnsàn | (idiom) to vanish like smoke in thin air; to disappear |
| 白云 | Báiyún | white cloud |
| 浮云 | fúyún | floating clouds; fleeting |
| 云朵 | yúnduǒ | a cloud |
Questions about 云
What does 云 mean?
云 (yún) means "cloud" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 云?
云 is made of 1 character: 云 (4 strokes). That is 4 strokes in total.
Is 云 an HSK word?
Yes. 云 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 云 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 云 is written 雲.
Does 云 mean cloud computing in modern Chinese?
Yes. 云 is used for the cloud in technology, as in 云计算 (yún jìsuàn, cloud computing) and 云端 (yúnduān, in the cloud).
Why does 云 sometimes mean to say?
In classical Chinese, 云 was used to mean to say. You still see it in set phrases like 人云亦云 (rén yún yì yún), meaning to repeat what others say without thinking.