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Looking for a translation for "hail" in Japanese, I stumbled upon two possible words with a peculiar distinction being made on the size of the hail balls:

  • [雹]{ひょう} (esp. hail balls 5mm or greater)
  • [霰]{あられ} (esp. hail balls under 5 mm)

Is this distinction really being made, or is one of these two words (almost) never used ? Could you maybe provide me with some examples if there are some additional subtleties.

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  • @A.Ellett The story is false. It's like saying there are over 3 ways to express fun in Japanese: 楽しい 楽しそう 楽しさ etc. They have their differences. Source: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow
    – binom
    Jul 16, 2017 at 9:29

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雹 [ひょう] (esp. hail balls 5mm or greater)
霰 [あられ] (esp. hail balls under 5 mm)
Is this distinction really being made, or is one of these two words (almost) never used ? Could you maybe provide me with some examples if there are some additional subtleties.

The size of the frozen substance from the sky, we don't know, but I think we've been differentiating them by how strong they are, and how the word sounds like; 霰{あられ} sounds lighter like the cute tiny baked riceballs for snacking, and 雹{ひょう} sounds stronger to us in some reason.

But when an established dictionary defines something, we can expect it to have been officially defined by somewhere has the authority.

There's also 霙{みぞれ}, and it's said that it's a mixture of rain and snow. I relate it with shaved ice with sweet syrup, and these applications of the word are both so true to me that I wonder which use came to the world first.

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    Maybe it's just me, but the 砲 in [砲弾]{ほう・だん} ("cannonball", "shell", "artillery") is similar to 雹, so it evokes a larger, heavier image as you say.
    – istrasci
    Jul 15, 2017 at 18:02
  • @istrasci That's interesting. :) You know what? I always tend to associate it with leopards, the word for them is 豹{ひょう}. I find it's like "cat's and dogs" in English. :D
    – karlalou
    Jul 15, 2017 at 18:16

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