冷lěng

冷

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简体

Simplified Chinese

Modern simplified form (簡體). 冷 (lěng, "cold") remains unchanged from its traditional counterpart, combining the ice radical 冫 with 令 as a phonetic element — a pairing that has represented chill since at least the Warring States period. It appears in chilling words like 寒冷 (hánlěng, "cold"), 冷冻 (lěngdòng, "freeze"), and 冷气 (lěngqì, "air conditioning").

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Shuowen

Cold. The character is composed of the ice radical (冫) on the left and the phonetic component 令 on the right, indicating that it originally meant "cold" in the sense of low temperature. The ice radical, derived from the shape of ice, serves as the semantic element, while 令 provides the phonetic value. In oracle bone script, the character already featured this combination, reflecting its meaning and sound, and it has remained largely unchanged in structure through the ages.

Pinyin

lěng· HSK 1

冷lěng

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin