凉水
liáng shuǐ · HSK 3
cool water
🧊💧 凉水 = cool (凉) + water (水)
凉 means cool/cold (the 冫 ice radical on the left signals low temperature), and 水 is water. Together: cool water, often meaning unboiled tap water in Chinese homes.
凉 — ice radical 冫 + 京 (capital)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 冫 (ice) gives the meaning 'cool/cold,' while 京 supplies the sound. Originally written 涼 with the water radical 氵, suggesting cool water; the simplified form 凉 swaps in 冫 to emphasize coldness. The meaning extended from 'cool' to 'chilly' and figuratively 'desolate.'
水 — pictograph of flowing water
水 is a pictograph depicting a stream of flowing water, with the central line representing the main current and the side strokes showing splashing droplets or ripples. In oracle bone script it was drawn even more clearly as a wavy vertical line with branches. It retains its original meaning of 'water' and also serves as a radical, often appearing in the compressed form 氵.