冷たい
つめたい · tsumetai · JLPT N5 · i-adj
cold
🧊 tsume-tai: from 爪 (tsume, nail) + 痛い (itai, hurts) — cold that stings fingertips
A common etymology derives 冷たい from 爪痛し, nails hurt: the sting in your fingertips when you touch ice. It describes things cold to the touch (drinks, hands) and cold-hearted people; for cold weather, use 寒い (samui) instead.
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.