下雪
xià xuě · HSK 2
to snow
❄️ 下雪 = 下 (fall/down) + 雪 (snow)
下 means 'down' or 'to fall' and acts as a verb here; 雪 is 'snow'. Chinese uses 下 for things that fall from the sky — 下雨 (rain), 下雪 (snow), 下冰雹 (hail).
下 — horizontal line 一 + mark below
下 is an indicative character: a long horizontal line represents a reference level, and a shorter stroke placed beneath it points to the area below. The original meaning 'below, down' comes directly from this spatial diagram, and it later extended to verbs like 'descend' and 'lower'.
雪 — rain 雨 + hand 彐 (originally broom 帚)
Originally an ideograph showing rain 雨 above a hand holding a broom, suggesting snow as 'rain that can be swept.' Over time the broom element simplified to 彐. The character has always meant snow, with later extended senses like 'to wipe away' (as in 雪恥, to wipe out shame).