About
冽 is a phonosemantic compound: the ice radical 冫 on the left gives the meaning of extreme cold, while 列 on the right supplies the pronunciation (列's ordinary sense of 'to arrange' is not active here). It describes bitter, piercing cold, typically harsh winter weather, freezing winds, or icy water that brings physical discomfort. This character appears prominently in classical poetry and literary prose to evoke a sensory experience of chilling frost, often alongside other descriptive words to intensify the starkness of a winter landscape.
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