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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

冰

bīng
ice (Classifier: 塊／块 m c; 嚿／𫩥 c)
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 冫
  • 6 strokes

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  • derived
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *pŋrɯŋ, *ŋrɯŋ): phonetic 冫 (OC *pŋrɯŋ, *ŋrɯŋ) + semantic 水. 冫 is the original pictogram for this character, a semantic 水 was added later.

The above vulgar character in Shuowen Jiezi is 凝.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *l-pəm (“to freeze; snow”) (provisionally reconstructed). Compare Proto-Tani *pam (“snow”), Japhug jpɣom (“to freeze”), tɤjpɣom (“ice”), and perhaps Tangut 𘒓 (*par¹, “to congeal”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007; Zhang, Jacques, and Lai, 2019; Jacques, 2014).

Within Chinese, 凌 (OC *rɯŋ, “ice”) and possibly 凝 (OC *ŋrɯŋ, “to congeal”) are usually considered cognates (STEDT; Zhengzhang, 2003; Schuessler, 2007; Baxter and Sagart, 2014). However, they are phonologically difficult to reconcile with the Tibeto-Burman cognates above (cf. Schuessler, 2007).

STEDT also includes 雱 (OC *pʰaːŋ, “heavy (snowfall)”) and 霙 (OC *qraŋ, “snowflake”) in the Chinese comparandum of (what it reconstructs) Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-p(w)am.

Alternatively, this may be related to Old Khmer ប្រិង៑ (“to harden; to solidify”), from រិង៑ (“to dry up”), although the meanings are difficult to reconcile (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*l-pəm “to freeze; snow”
  • soundChinese仌 “ice”
  • meaningChinese水 “water (Classifier: 瓶 m; 樽 c; 滴 m c; 池 m c; 盆 m c; 杯 m c)”

Related: Tangut 𘒓, Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-pəm, Old Khmer ប្រិង៑

Words built on it: 冬, 准, 冰箱

Meanings

character
  1. ice (Classifier: 塊／块 m c; 嚿／𫩥 c)
  2. ice-cold
  3. to freeze; to ice
  4. methamphetamine; meth; ice
  5. a surname, Bing

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

冰：水堅也。从仌从水。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 水在攝氏零度或零度以下所凝結成的固體。 例：冰塊、冰河、冰雪
  2. 利用冰塊或冰箱使物體防腐或減低溫度。 例：把這瓶鮮奶冰起來吧！
  3. 比喻不重視或冷淡對待。 例：他可是被冰了許多年，最近才受重用。
  4. 寒冷。 例：冰涼、冷冰冰、冰天雪地
  5. 純潔、清明潔淨。 例：冰心、冰雪聰明、冰清玉潔
  6. 白嫩如冰的。 例：冰膚、冰肌玉骨

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 冰 was written 字形演變

  1. 冰 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 冰 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 冰 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 冰