Usage of に in 「雨にぬれる」


> 雨{あめ} **に** ぬれる

Why shouldn’t it be

> 雨{あめ} **で** ぬれる

Could you please explain to me why に is used in this expression? Is で
incorrect here or is there a difference in nuance?




First off, let us check a corpus to see if there is actually a difference in
distribution. Here are some results from BCCWJ (searching with the stem 「濡れ」
to capture multiple different inflections):

**に** **で** **比**  
雨に濡れ １３８ ／ 雨で濡れ １２ ＝ １１．５  
水に濡れ ４８ ／ 水で濡れ ７ ＝ ６．９  
涙に濡れ ２１ ／ 涙で濡れ ２０ ＝ １．１  
汗に濡れ ２２ ／ 汗で濡れ ２６ ＝ ０．８

There definitely seems to be a difference in distribution: some arguments
(雨、水) highly prefer に, while other arguments are more indifferent between に
and で (涙, 汗).

I think the fundamental difference that に is more about simply describing what
something is wet with, suggesting a natural, spontaneous, or passive process,
while で suggests an active cause-effect process. (Similar to these two
answers: [1](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/4558/3097),
[2](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/4561/3097) on [揺れる with に or
で](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/4554/3097).)

That's not to say you _can't_ use で with 雨; I think the following is just
fine, for example:

「どうせ雨で濡れるし行かないわ」

In this case you are emphasizing that you will "get wet _because of_ the
rain", not just that you will get wet in the rain, so the cause-effect nuance
of で fits. Of course 雨に works fine here too.

Despite the rather tilted BCCWJ hit counts, I think in general both で and に
are acceptable, but nuance-wise one sometimes fits better than the other.

