黑云 (hēi yún) — dark clouds, black clouds

Definition

noun

dark cloudsblack clouds

Measure word · 朵

黑云，。
Tiān shàng yǒu hēi yún, kě néng yào xià yǔ le.
There are dark clouds in the sky; it might rain.
黑云，。
hēi yún Zhē zhù le tài yáng, tiān qì biàn de hěn àn.
Dark clouds blocked the sun, and the weather became very dark.
黑云，。
Yuǎn chù yǒu yí piàn hēi yún, kàn qǐ lái kuài yào xià yǔ le.
There's a patch of dark clouds in the distance; it looks like it's about to rain.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

黑 gives the dark color and 云 the clouds, meaning dark clouds.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雲; 云 is its simplified writing.

雨云雲

The traditional form 雲 is 雨 (rain) plus 云; 云 was the original writing for 'cloud', and 雨 was added to separate it from the borrowed sense 'to say'.