Meaning of 冷气
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- cold air
- air conditioning
How to use 冷气
冷气 can mean cold air in general, but in daily speech it often means air conditioning, especially in Taiwan, Hong Kong and southern China. It pairs with verbs like 开 (kāi) to turn on and 关 (guān) to turn off. Example: 房间里太热了，开冷气吧。(Fángjiān lǐ tài rè le, kāi lěngqì ba.) It is too hot in the room, let's turn on the air conditioning.
冷 (lěng) means cold and 气 (qì) means air or gas, so 冷气 is simply cold air. Think of the cold air blowing out of an air conditioner on a hot day.
Common mistake: Learners often write 冷 with three dots on the left like 冰 or 河, but 冷 has only two dots (冫), the ice radical. Also keep the third tone on 冷 (lěng) and do not confuse it with 零 (líng), zero.
冷气 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
冷 lěng · cold · 7 strokes
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- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
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- 7
气 qì · gas · 4 strokes
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- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 冷气.
| 生气 | shēngqì | to get angry; to be furious; vitality; liveliness |
| 天气 | tiānqì | weather |
| 不客气 | bù kèqì | you're welcome; don't mention it |
| 空气 | kōngqì | air; atmosphere |
| 气温 | qìwēn | air temperature |
| 气候 | qìhòu | (meteorology) climate; (fig.) climate; prevailing conditions (in human affairs) |
| 冷静 | lěngjìng | calm; cool-headed; dispassionate; (of a place) deserted; quiet |
| 运气 | yùnqi | luck (good or bad) |
| 勇气 | yǒngqì | courage |
| 力气 | lìqi | physical strength |
| 寒冷 | hánlěng | cold (climate); frigid |
| 气球 | qìqiú | balloon |
Questions about 冷气
What does 冷气 mean?
冷气 (lěngqì) means "cold air; air conditioning" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 冷气?
冷气 is made of 2 characters: 冷 (7 strokes), 气 (4 strokes). That is 11 strokes in total.
Is 冷气 an HSK word?
Yes. 冷气 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 冷气 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 冷气 is written 冷氣.
What is the difference between 冷气 and 空调?
空调 (kōngtiáo) is the standard mainland word for an air conditioner as a machine. 冷气 focuses on the cold air it produces and is more common in Taiwan and Hong Kong, though both are understood everywhere.
Can 冷气 be used for heating?
No. 冷气 only refers to cooling. For heating, people say 暖气 (nuǎnqì), which means heating or warm air.