Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left water radical variant compact and slightly shorter than the right component, allowing the overall character to maintain a balanced, stable square form.
1. Meaning
ice
to chill or freeze sthcold to the touchcold and unfriendly (personality)methamphetamine (slang)
Noun / Verb / AdjectiveNeutral#weather#states of matter#temperature
Sample Usage
把饮料冰一下。
bǎ yǐnliào bīng yīxià.
Chill the beverage for a moment.
路面结冰了，开车要小心。
lùmiàn jié bīng le, kāichē yào xiǎoxīn.
The road surface is icy; drive carefully.
2. Sound
/[pɪŋ⁵⁵]/Tone: 55
冰
bīngbing1
|
++
¯(55)
=bīng
Initial Consonant
b
Type: Unaspirated Bilabial
Sounds like: b sound as in 'boy'
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. A tissue in front of lips should stay still.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips pressed firmly together then released gently without a burst of air.
Final Rhyme
ing
Vowel Group: -i vowel group
Sounds like: -ing rhymes with 'sing'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eeng'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T1 (55)
5 → 5 (55)
1st Tone (High-Flat)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, steady pitch, identical to singing a sustained musical note at the top of your normal speaking voice.
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse the unvoiced/unaspirated initial 'b-' with the aspirated 'p-'. 'Bīng' uses a soft 'b' that sounds closer to an English 'p' in 'spin' than the strong 'p' in 'pin'.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Hold your hand out flat at eye level and draw a straight, unvarying horizontal line from left to right, matching the high level pitch of Tone 1.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 6 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left water radical variant compact and slightly shorter than the right component, allowing the overall character to maintain a balanced, stable square form.
4. Components
Radical冫 · Two-dot ice radical (ice, cold)
Semantic Clue (形旁):冫 (indicates freezing or cold temperatures)
Originally derived from water (水) with an extra dot added to signify water freezing into solid ice crystals.
冫 Two-dot ice radical on the left
水 Modified water base on the right
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: In oracle bone script, water (水) was depicted with flowing streams. When ice (冰) was formed, extra strokes or dots were added to water to represent solidifying liquid.
Semantic Evolution: Originally representing frozen water, it naturally expanded over time to describe anything cold, the act of chilling drinks, and eventually modern slang terms.
In ancient seal script, the character was written as 氷 before standardizing to 冰.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ヒョウ / Kun: こおり
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
빙
Sound Shift Bridge: Shares roots across East Asian terminology relating to freezing temperatures.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Picture a glass of water with TWO giant ice cubes (冫) dropped in, chilling the liquid so intensely that the whole cup becomes freezing cold (bīng).
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
冷
lěngcoldUses the ice radical (冫) combined with a person/roof element to mean cold weather or feeling cold.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
水(shuǐ)
水 means liquid water with a central vertical stroke, while 冰 has the two-dot ice radical (冫) indicating it has frozen solid.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
夏天喝一杯[___]镇可乐非常解暑。
Clue: bīng
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the two-dot ice radical (冫) with the three-dot water radical (氵) when handwriting.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does 冰 mean and how is it pronounced with tone?
Production: How do you write the character for 'ice' and what radical does it use?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
Search theme
Accent preference
Results are live YouTube search — accents and levels aren't verified.
冰bīngice
Speed:
Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...