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霰 is a phonosemantic compound: the radical 雨 ('rain') at the top places it in the domain of weather, and 散 at the bottom gives its sound. The character denotes graupel, soft hail or snow pellets, a form of frozen precipitation distinct from both hard, icy hail and crystalline snow. In literature and meteorology, it consistently refers to these small, opaque pellets that fall in winter storms.
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