About
The character "寒" originally depicted the experience of cold within a dwelling, as its structure in the traditional form, which remains largely unchanged, assembles several components under a roof ("宀") to create a conceptual scene. Within this enclosed space, a person ("人") is surrounded by layers of bundled vegetation ("茻" reduced to a representation) while the element for ice ("冫") rests below, collectively painting a vivid picture of seeking shelter from the winter chill. Over time, this concrete pictorial idea solidified into its core meaning of coldness, both in a literal physical sense and, by natural extension, in more abstract applications such as describing a period of economic hardship, a chilling manner, or the cold season itself. This semantic expansion from a specific domestic scene to a broad adjective and noun demonstrates how the character's inherent logic continued to inform its use, even as its written form stabilized.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
这里很寒冷。
寒风吹过街道。
他感到一阵寒意。
寒暑假我都回家。
寒冬腊月特别冷。
她的态度让我心寒。
经济寒冬影响就业。
不畏严寒坚持锻炼。