晴(は)れ

Common expressions

晴(は)れ is the standard word for clear weather in forecasts and in everyday conversation. As a forecast term it is combined with other conditions in a fixed order:

• 晴(は)れのち曇(くも)り: sunny, later cloudy
• 晴(は)れ時々(ときどき)曇(くも)り: sunny with occasional clouds
• 晴(は)れ一時(いちじ)雨(あめ): sunny with brief rain

のち marks what follows, 時々(ときどき) a condition recurring through the day, and 一時(いちじ) a single short spell.

Compounds

• 晴(は)れ着(ぎ): formal or best clothes
• 晴(は)れの舞台(ぶたい): a grand occasion, a moment in the spotlight

These preserve an older sense of 晴(は)れ meaning 'formal, public, ceremonial' — the opposite of ordinary everyday life. A learner meets this sense only in set phrases; the weather sense is the live one.

Similar words

• 晴(は)れる: the verb, to clear up
• 快晴(かいせい): perfectly clear, stronger than 晴(は)れ and mostly written
• 曇(くも)り: cloudy, the opposite condition