Character Of The Day

Bīng. Alice and I trade off choosing the COTD, and she apparently has ice on her mind. I guess the atmosphere in her apartment closely resembles a furnace. Regardless, I think this is a character we can all find useful at some point, as it’s one of those wonderful things that many of us take for granted in this era of refrigeration. Anyway, as mentioned, this character can be directly translated as ice. It combines bīng (which my computer won’t let me type), the liǎngdiǎnshuǐ (两点水) radical meaning frozen, on the left and shuǐ (水) on the right, which means water. Makes sense to me. Let’s look at some chilly combos.

溜冰 – liūbīng means to ice-skate
滑冰 – huábīng means to ice-skate as well
冰雹 – bīngbáo means hail
冰茶 – bīngchá means iced tea
冰冻 – bīngdòng means to freeze
冰棍 – bīnggùn means Popsicle
冰河 – bīnghé means glacier
冰块 – bīngkuái means ice cube
冰淇淋 – bīngqílín means ice cream
冰山 – bīngshān means iceberg
冰箱 – bīngxiāng means refrigerator
冰鞋 – bīngxié means ice skates
冰柱 – bīngzhù means icicle

So, there you have it. Quick! Go get Alice a 冰红茶, a 冰棍, or some 冰淇淋!!! Take her to a 冰河!!! Throw her in the 冰箱!!! I would just make her some 火上冰山 (“Fire on the Iceberg”: sliced tomatoes covered in sugar), and hope that it would be refreshing enough. So, that’s it for me for today. Cool off if you need to and don’t worry, 滑冰 season will be here before you know it. Later.