雪

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 雪, read ゆき, means snow that falls from the sky and can accumulate on the ground.
• Basic usage: In 朝起きると庭に白い雪が積もっていた。, white snow has accumulated in the yard by the time the speaker wakes up.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Snow as a material
  • 雪を丸めて describes packing snow together, and 雪だるま is the snowman made from it. The word can name material shaped into objects as well as a weather phenomenon.