冷战

冷戰
lěngzhàn
noun HSK 7 #10,337

Meanings

  1. 1 cold war
  2. 2 silent treatment (between people)

Characters

Literally 'cold war' — works both for geopolitics and personal relationships.

Examples

Lěngzhàn shíqī, shìjiè fēnwéi liǎng dà zhènyíng.
During the Cold War, the world was divided into two camps.
Tāmen chǎojià hòu lěngzhàn le yí gè xīngqī.
After the argument, they gave each other the silent treatment for a week.

Tips

usage
In everyday Chinese, 冷战 is used far more often for relationship drama than geopolitics. Couples 冷战 (dǎ lěngzhàn, 'wage a cold war') by refusing to talk to each other. It's a staple of Chinese relationship advice columns and TV dramas.

Stroke Order

lěng
zhàn