Meaning of 冻
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to freeze
- to feel very cold
- aspic or jelly
How to use 冻
冻 is used as a verb for things freezing or people feeling very cold, and as a noun in words like 果冻 (guǒdòng, jelly). It often appears in compounds such as 冷冻 (lěngdòng) and 冻结 (dòngjié). Example: 我的手冻得发红。(Wǒ de shǒu dòng de fā hóng.) My hands are red from the cold.
冻 combines the ice radical 冫 on the left with 东 (dōng, east), which gives the sound. Picture an icy wind blowing from the east and freezing everything solid.
Common mistake: Learners often write the left side as 氵 (three water drops) instead of 冫 (two ice strokes), confusing it with characters like 洞 (dòng, hole), which has the same sound. Remember: ice has two dots, water has three.
冻 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.
冻 dòng · to freeze · 7 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 冻.
Questions about 冻
What does 冻 mean?
冻 (dòng) means "to freeze; to feel very cold" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 冻?
冻 is made of 1 character: 冻 (7 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 冻 an HSK word?
Yes. 冻 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 冻 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 冻 is written 凍.
What is the difference between 冻 and 冷?
冷 (lěng) is an adjective meaning cold, as in 今天很冷 (It is cold today). 冻 is a verb describing the effect of cold: something freezing, or a person suffering from the cold, as in 冻坏了 (frozen badly).
Can 冻 be used for freezing money or accounts?
Yes, but usually through the compound 冻结 (dòngjié), as in 冻结账户 (freeze an account) or 冻结价格 (freeze prices). 冻 alone is mostly used for physical cold.