The character began as 申, a zigzag stroke tracing the sudden flash of lightning across the sky. Scribes later added the rain-cloud radical 雨 on top to spell out 電 — thunder's lightning, unmistakably tied to the sky's own weather. When Chinese simplified its writing in the 20th century, the rain cloud was dropped and only the lightning bolt remained: 电, now the word for electricity itself.
A piece of culture
The Thunder God's flash Long before physics, Chinese mythology gave lightning a face: Leigong, the Thunder God, a fierce bird-beaked figure who struck down wrongdoers with a chisel and drum, while his consort Dianmu, the Mother of Lightning, flashed mirrors to light his way. When 电 shed its rain-cloud and became the word for electricity, it kept marching through the modern age: 电报 (telegraph, "electric report"), 电视 (television, "electric vision"), and 电脑 (computer, literally "electric brain") all carry the same ancient lightning bolt at their core.
Use it in a real word
电车
diànchē · din6 ce1
tram; trolley — literally "electric cart"; 车 is waiting for you in chapter 7