JAPAN INFO

Condensation trail in the western sky before the sunset

2016.11.11 / 最終更新日：2019.12.07

Before sunset of December 11, 2016, I saw beautiful sky with moving condensation trail (contrail). Contrail is “Hi-ko-ki gumo”. “Hi-ko-ki” means “airplane”. “Gu-mo” is a dull sound of “Ku-mo”. “Ku-mo” corresonds to “cloud”. “雲 (くも)” alone is pronounced as “Ku-mo” without exception. But when “雲” is attached to something from behind, Japanese people don’t pronounce as “ku-mo” but “gu-mo”. Many kinds of complex term (compound term) of cloud are known and we Japanese pronounce them as “~~ gu-mo” such as “Ki-no-ko gu-mo” (きのこ雲, mushroom cloud), “A-ma gu-mo”あまぐも, 雨雲 (あめ (a-me) ＋くも(ku-mo)), raincloud), “i-wa-shi gu-mo” (いわしぐも, イワシ雲, 鰯雲, cirrocumulus, sardine-like cloud). Another way of pronunciation of “~~ 雲” is “u-n”. “雲海” is “うんかい, u-n ka-i”, which means “cloud sea”. “積乱雲 (せきらんうん, se-ki-ra-n u-n)” is “cumulonimbus”.

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