Hiragana "Nyu" Coloring Pages

The "Nyu" in "Nyudougumo" (Cumulonimbus Cloud)

The letter on this coloring page is the Hiragana "Nyu".
The word is "nyudogumo" (cumulonimbus cloud). The picture on the left shows a big, fluffy cloud rising high into the blue summer sky.
You can see a little bit of low hills at the bottom.
Nyudogumo are super tall clouds that you often see on hot summer afternoons.
If you look up at the sky and find a giant, fluffy cloud, that might be a nyudogumo!

"Ni" and a small "Yu" make one sound

To write "Nyu", you write "Ni" and add a small "Yu" right after it.
It is made of two characters, but you do not read them separately as "Ni" and "Yu". You read them as one single sound: "Nyu".
Sounds like this are called Youon.
If you write a big "Yu" by mistake, it becomes "Ni-Yu-U-Do-U-Gu-Mo", and the reading changes!
"Ni" came from the kanji 「仁」, and "Yu" came from the kanji 「由」.
Youon sounds use small "Ya", "Yu", and "Yo". On the Hiragana chart, they are grouped in sets of three, like "Nya", "Nyu", and "Nyo".
Let's say them out loud with a nice rhythm: "Nya, Nyu, Nyo!"

Tips for Writing Hiragana "Nyu" Neatly

Hiragana "Nyu" takes 3 strokes for the first character.
Stroke 1 is the standing line on the left. Once you go down, make a tiny bounce toward the top right.
Strokes 2 and 3 are the short side-to-side lines on the right. Try to curve the bottom line a little bit up to the right at the end.
The trick is to not leave too much space between the left and right sides.
The small "yu" takes 2 strokes. Write it small and put it close to the bottom left of its box.
It should be about half the size of the first character.
When you finish writing, look at the sizes of both parts together to make sure they look different!

Let's look for words with Hiragana "Nyu"

Words that start with "Nyu" include nyuugaku (starting school), nyuin (going to the hospital), nyuujou (entering a venue), and nyuuyoku (taking a bath).
Gyuunyuu (milk), which you drink every day, also has "Nyu" in it.
In "Gyuunyuu," there are two combined sounds hidden: "Gyu" and "Nyu."
"Nyu" is often followed by "U."
Try looking for words with "Nyu" with someone in your family!

Color the big "Nyu" in your favorite colors

First, try coloring the big outlined "Nyu" in the top right using your favorite colors.
If you color "Ni" blue and "Yu" light blue to match the summer sky, the letters will look super refreshing.
So you don't go outside the lines, color slowly near the edges, and color freely in the middle.

Leave the clouds white and make the sky blue

To color the cumulonimbus cloud, start by coloring the sky blue or light blue so the cloud shape stands out.
The trick is to leave the cloud itself white.
If you add a little shade using light gray or light blue under the fluffy bumps or where clouds overlap, the cloud will look 3D.
Leave the top of the cloud bright white where the sun hits it.
If you color the mountains below green or blue-green, you will get a nice summery scene.

Tracing practice: two boxes make one set

In the bottom-right boxes, there are 4 sets of light gray Hiragana "Nyu".
"Ni" is in the left box and a small "Yu" is in the right box. Two boxes make one set.
A B or 2B pencil is best because it is not too dark and not too light.
Use the vertical and horizontal center lines in the boxes as guides. Check where the letter starts before you write.
Once you write one set, say "Nyu" out loud.
If you can trace all 4 sets neatly one by one, try writing Hiragana "Nyu" all by yourself in the white space outside the boxes.

What does "Nyudo" mean in its name?

"Nyudo" used to mean a monk with a shaved head.
A giant smooth-headed monster called "Onyudo" also appears in old Japanese fairy tales.
People started calling these clouds "Nyudo-gumo" because the tall, puffy clouds look like that big monster!

They can get taller than 10 kilometers

The real name for Nyudo-gumo is "cumulonimbus cloud."
When the ground gets warm and moist air rises way up high, the cloud grows taller and taller.
It is a super tall cloud, and the top can even be over 10 kilometers high!

Watch out for thunder and evening showers

Under a Nyudo-gumo, you might hear thunder or get hit by sudden heavy rain.
Sudden rain showers on a summer evening are called "Yudachi."
If you hear thunder rumbles, head inside a building right away!

Clouds are made of tiny water drops

Clouds are actually big groups of tiny water droplets and ice bits floating in the sky.
Each drop is too small to see on its own, but when lots of them gather together, they look like a white cloud.
The top part of a Nyudo-gumo is very cold, so it is made of little bits of ice.