凄 qī bitter cold
bitter cold; miserable; dreary
How to remember 凄: 冫 ice + 妻 wife = bitter cold. At dawn on the frozen lake the ice creaks, my wife shivers in the tent and calls our fishing trip bitter cold.
Component breakdown
形声 · Meaning + sound
One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.
凄 = 冫 ice + 妻 wife
- 冫 ice meaning
- 妻 wife sound
- 一 one
- 彐 snout
- 丨 line
- 女 woman
At dawn on the frozen lake the ice creaks, my wife shivers in the tent and calls our fishing trip bitter cold.
How it came to be
The ice gives the meaning and the wife gives the sound.
How it is used
- Bleak and mournful, cold desolation or sorrow: 凄凉 (qīliáng) desolate/forlorn, 凄惨 (qīcǎn) wretched, 凄美 (qīměi) sadly beautiful.
- An emotional/aesthetic word for melancholy scenes and feelings, common in literature and lyrics.
- Note the 凄 root pairs 'cold' + 'grief': a chill that is as much of the heart as the weather.