冰
bīng · HSK 4
ice
🧊 水 (water) + 冫(ice radical, two dots of frozen droplets) = ice
The radical 冫 is the 'ice' radical — a reduced form of 冰 itself, drawn as two dots representing frozen water droplets. Combined with 水 (water), the character literally encodes water-turned-solid.
冰 — ice radical 冫 + water 水
冰 means 'ice' and combines 冫 (the 'ice' radical, originally a pictograph of ice crystals) with 水 'water'. The radical 冫 is itself a simplified form of an older character for ice, so 冰 is essentially 'frozen water'. The form 氷 is a variant still used in Japanese.