霜
shuāng · HSK 7
frost
❄️ 霜 = 雨 (rain) over 相 (xiāng, mutual) — rain that settles as frost; 相 also lends the shuāng-ish sound
The 雨 rain radical on top marks weather words like rain, snow, and frost. Below it sits 相 (xiāng), a phonetic clue pointing to the shuāng reading. Same word also covers a smooth cream or frosting spread on a surface, like frost coating glass.
霜 — rain radical 雨 + xiāng 相 (phonetic)
霜 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The top 雨 ('rain') signals a weather phenomenon, while 相 below provides the sound, originally close to 'shuāng'. The character has meant 'frost' since early times, later extending to figurative senses like white hair or yearly cycles ('one frost' = one year).