U+973E "霾" CJK Unified Ideograph-# Unicode Character
U+973E "霾" CJK Unified Ideograph-# is a Chinese character whose primary meaning is "haze" or "dust storm," specifically referring to a thick, obscuring atmospheric condition caused by fine particulate matter such as dust, smoke, or other pollutants. This character combines the "rain" radical (雨) with the phonetic component "貍" (li, meaning "wildcat"), and it is most commonly used in modern Mandarin to describe the severe smog or haze events that frequently affect urban areas, especially in northern China. Beyond its weather-related usage, "霾" also carries classical connotations of gloom or obscurity, metaphorically representing confusion or a veiling of clarity. Thus, this ideograph encapsulates both a literal environmental phenomenon and a broader symbolic sense of concealment or murkiness.