凉快 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

liáng cool Simplified

Original meaning: light alcohol, dilute wine

Phonosemantic compound. 冫 is a simplification of 氵 (water), based on the original meaning "light alcohol, dilute wine". 京 represents the sound. Simplified form of 涼.

Components

冫 Meaning Simplified component

bīng ice

氵 was simplified to 冫.

京 Sound component

jīng capital city

Change in sound

凉 and 京 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
凉 ljang
京 kjaeng

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫康熙字典
Readings & variants: Unicode

kuài, kuai rapid

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 夬 represents the sound.

Components

忄 Meaning component

xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

夬 Sound component

guài, jué parted

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1)

筷

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khwaejH	[k]ʷʰˤret-s	cheerful

說文解字

《說文》：“快，喜也。从心，夬聲。”

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)

liáng cool Traditional

Original meaning: light alcohol, dilute wine

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

京 Sound component

jīng capital city

Change in sound

涼 and 京 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
涼 ljang
京 kjaeng

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ljang	C.raŋ	cold

說文解字

《說文》：“涼，薄也。从水，京聲。”

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)

凉 liáng cool Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

快 kuài, kuai rapid

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

涼 liáng cool Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

liáng cool Simplified

kuài, kuai rapid

liáng cool Traditional