Hello all! I learned the word for lightning today, 稲妻, and it made me curious about where this kanji combination comes from. Is there an interesting etymology that explains why ‘lightning’ is written using “[稲] rice plant” and “[妻] wife, spouse” ? I thought it might be a reference to some interesting folklore or a story (if there’s a known answer at all). 
Thank you for your patience and any help! ^-^
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Just a case of mistaking correlation with causation. In the same time of year that there are many thunderstorms, the rice plants also start to mature. So, at some point in time they thought there was some connection between the two.
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Don’t you mean it’s because if you ruin your wife’s rice she will be angrier than a thunderstorm?
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I’ll take that mnemonic there, thank you very much…
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Go for it! but make sure you change thunderstorm to “than a flash of lightning” for it to be accurate!
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