寒

Translingual

Han character

寒 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 十廿金卜 (JTCY), four-corner 3030₃, composition ⿱𡨄⺀)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 289, character 9
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7239
• Dae Jaweon: page 572, character 10
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 941, character 6
• Unihan data for U+5BD2

---

Chinese

simp. and trad.		寒

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 寒
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (寒) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
寒	*ɡaːn
蹇	*kranʔ, *kanʔ
謇	*kranʔ
搴	*kranʔ, *kʰran
藆	*kranʔ
騫	*kʰran
褰	*kʰran
攐	*kʰran
鑳	*ɡranʔ
寋	*ɡanʔ
鶱	*qʰan

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 宀 (“house”) + 人 (“person”) + 茻 (“grass”) – a person in a house, sleeping in the grass to protect from the cold. In some bronze inscriptions, 二 is added at the bottom of the character; this may simply be decorative or may represent a mat. In the seal script, 二 is changed to 仌 (“ice”) to emphasize its meaning of coldness.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 寒

1. cold; wintry; chilly
2. poor; poverty-stricken
3. humble; petty and low
4. desolate; deserted
5. dreary; miserable
6. withered; limp
7. (humble) my
8. to feel cold
9. to fear; to dread
10. winter
11. cold weather; cold day or night
12. (traditional Chinese medicine) cold; chill
13. The fourteenth day of the month in Chinese telegraph messages

Synonyms

• (cold): 冷 (lěng)

Dialectal synonyms of 冷 (“cold”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		冷, 寒冷 weather
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	冷
	Taiwan	冷
	Singapore	冷
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	冷
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	冷
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	冷
	Wanrong	冷
	Xi'an	冷
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	冷
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	冷, 凊 very cold
	Wuhan	冷, 冷凊 weather
	Guilin	冷
	Liuzhou	冷, 凊
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	冷
	Hefei	冷
Cantonese	Guangzhou	凍, 冷
	Hong Kong	凍, 冷 weather
	Taishan	冷
	Yangjiang	凍, 冷 weather
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	凍
	Singapore (Guangfu)	凍
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	凍
Gan	Nanchang	冷
	Lichuan	冷
Hakka	Meixian	冷
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	冷, 寒
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	冷, 寒人
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	冷
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	冷, 寒
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	冷, 寒
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	冷, 寒
Huizhou	Jixi	冷, 凍
Jin	Taiyuan	冷
Northern Min	Jian'ou	凊, 鎮 very cold
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	凊, 凍
Southern Min	Xiamen	冷, 凊, 寒 weather
	Quanzhou	冷, 凊, 寒
	Shishi	寒
	Zhangzhou	冷, 凊, 寒
	Zhao'an	寒
	Dongshan	寒
	Taipei	冷, 凊, 寒
	Penang (Hokkien)	冷, 寒 weather, 凊
	Singapore (Hokkien)	冷, 寒 weather
	Manila (Hokkien)	冷, 寒, 凊
	Chaozhou	凝, 寒 weather, 凊
	Shantou	凝, 寒, 凊, 冷
	Shantou (Chenghai)	凝, 凊
	Shantou (Chaoyang)	凝
	Jieyang	凝, 凊
	Singapore (Teochew)	凝
	Wenchang	寒
	Qionghai	寒
	Singapore (Hainanese)	凊, 寒 weather
Wu	Shanghai	冷
	Shanghai (Chongming)	冷
	Suzhou	冷, 凍 weather
	Danyang	冷
	Hangzhou	冷
	Ningbo	冷
	Wenzhou	冷, 凍
	Lishui	冷
	Jinhua	冷
	Yushan	凊
Xiang	Changsha	冷, 凊 very cold
	Shuangfeng	冷, 凊 very cold

Further reading

• “Entry #8312”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

---

Japanese

Kanji

寒

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

1. cold

Readings

• Go-on: がん (gan)
• Kan-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)
• Kun: さむい (samui, 寒い, Jōyō); いやしい (iyashii, 寒しい); さびしい (sabishii, 寒しい); まずしい (mazushii, 寒しい)
• Nanori: さ (sa); さん (san)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
寒
かん Grade: 3
kan'on

From Middle Chinese 寒 (MC han).

Affix

寒(かん) • (kan) 

1. cold; chilly
2. lonely; deserted
3. poor; poverty-stricken
4. midwinter; cold season

Noun

寒(かん) • (kan) 

1. midwinter; cold season

---

Korean

Hanja

寒 (eumhun 찰 한 (chal han))
寒 (eumhun 차가운 한 (chagaun han))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Compounds

• 寒心 (한심, hansim): miserable

---

Vietnamese

Han character

寒: Hán Việt readings: hàn (河(hà)干(can)切(thiết))
寒: Nôm readings: hàn

1. chữ Hán form of hàn (“coldness”).