冻结
dòng jié · HSK 7
to freeze
🧊 冻 freeze + 结 knot/bond = frozen solid, locked in place
冻 means ice-cold or frozen. 结 means to tie or form a bond. Together they describe something locked tight — wages, prices, or loans held rigid, like water turned to ice that won't budge.
冻 — ice radical 冫 + east 东
A semantic-phonetic compound. The ice radical 冫 supplies the meaning 'freeze/cold,' while 东 (dōng) gives the sound. The traditional form is 凍; 东 is the simplified version of the phonetic 東. Core sense: to freeze or congeal.
结 — silk radical 糸 + lucky 吉 (phonetic)
结 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The silk radical 糸 on the left signals the meaning, since the original sense was tying threads or cords into knots. The right side 吉 (jí) provides the sound. From the literal 'knot' it extended to figurative senses like 'bind,' 'conclude,' or 'form (a bond).'