冷冰冰
lěng​bīng​bīng

cold/aloof

冷 lěng cold

Phonosemantic compound. 冫 represents the meaning and 令 represents the sound.

Components

冫
冫 Meaning component
bīng ice

冫 is a component form of 冰.

令
令 Sound component
lìng command

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangraːŋʔ
reːŋ
reːŋʔ
Unicodelæ̌ng
læ̌ng

說文解字

《說文》：“冷，寒也。从仌。令聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

冰 bīng ice

Depicts chunks (冫) of frozen water (水).

Components

冫
冫 Iconic component
bīng ice

冫 is a component form of 冰. Depicts chunks of ice.

水
水 Meaning component
shuǐ water

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpingp.rəŋ (dialect: *p.r- > *pr-)ice

說文解字

《說文》：“冰，水堅也。从仌，从水。凝，俗冰从疑。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)