虹 means “rainbow”

にじ · niji

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

にじ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コウ

Taught in secondary school · 9 strokes

The story

An insect (虫) arches across the sky: ancient peoples imagined the rainbow as a great serpent drinking from the earth. 虹 (niji) appears after rain, a bridge between sky and land.

Used in 虹色 (nijiiro, rainbow-colored) and 二重虹 (nijuuniji, double rainbow)

More from Weather & Sky

• 凍 freeze
• 乾 dry
• 湿 humid
• 陽 sunshine
• 影 shadow
• 天 heaven
• 星 star
• 晴 clear weather
• 曇 cloudy
• 降 fall
• 暑 hot (weather)
• 寒 cold (weather)

Learn 虹 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.