寒冷
hánlěng · HSK 4
cold
🥶❄️ 寒冷 = 寒 (cold) + 冷 (cold) — two cold characters doubled for emphasis
寒 originally depicted a person huddled in straw inside a house to escape the cold. Pairing it with 冷 (cold, with the 冫 ice radical) gives a stronger, more formal word for frigid weather.
冷 — ice radical 冫 + order 令
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 冫 (ice) supplies the meaning of coldness, while 令 (lìng, 'command/order') hints at the pronunciation. Originally referring to the chill of ice, 冷 broadened to mean cold in general, and figuratively cool, indifferent, or detached.