How to Write 霰 (xiàn) — Meaning “Sleet or graupel”

Imagine rain (雨) falling and then scattering (散) into little ice pellets like shotgun pellets — this connects directly to the word 霰弹 (shotgun shell). The visual of rain turning into scattered icy bits helps recall both the shape and meaning.

The top part 雨 should be written narrow, not wide, with all three inner strokes (the vertical and two dots) aligned neatly. The bottom part 散 requires careful stroke order: first the left side 昔 (horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical, horizontal, horizontal, left-falling), then the right side 攵 (left-falling, horizontal, left-falling, right-falling). A common mistake is making the 雨 too large, which unbalances the character.

霰 (sleet/graupel) contains the bottom component 散 (scatter), while 霪 (excessive rain) contains 淫 (excessive), and 霭 (mist/haze) contains 谒 (to visit) but is simplified to 霭 with 谒's phonetic part. Visually, 霰 has more strokes and a more complex bottom; in meaning, 霰 refers to frozen precipitation, 霪 is prolonged heavy rain, and 霭 is light fog or haze.

霰 appears most often in 霰弹 (shotgun shell) and in weather reports describing 霰雪 (sleet and snow) or 降霰 (falling graupel). It is a technical term not used in daily conversation, but Chinese meteorologists use it specifically to distinguish small, soft ice pellets from hail or snow. Culturally, 霰弹 is a common term in gun-related contexts, while weather mentions are rare outside of formal forecasts.

Common words containing 霰 include: 霰弹 (xiàn dàn) — Shotgun shell; 霰雪 (xiàn xuě) — Sleet and snow; 降霰 (jiàng xiàn) — falling graupel / snow pellets.