凉 (liáng): cool

Meanings

1 cool
2 cold (mildly; less intense than 冷)

Characters

凉

liáng

cool; cold

Examples

今天天气很凉。

Jīntiān tiānqì hěn liáng.

The weather is cool today.

水太凉了。

Shuǐ tài liáng le.

The water is too cold.

晚上会凉一些。

Wǎnshang huì liáng yīxiē.

It will be cooler in the evening.

Tips

usage

凉 (liáng) covers all the everyday 'cool / cold' senses. It's milder than 冷 — 凉水 is room-temperature or below-room-temperature water; 冷水 is genuinely cold. For a pleasant coolness, use 凉快 (refreshing). Showpiece compounds: 凉茶 (cooling herbal tea), 凉鞋 (sandals), 凉爽 (cool and refreshing).

register

A second reading 凉 (fourth tone) is a causative verb — 'to let something cool down.' Bound to fixed structures like 把汤凉一凉 (let the soup cool a bit). Default to liáng for adjective 'cool/cold' senses; use liàng only when the verb is causing something else to cool.

Components

radical

冫 bīng

ice (left-side radical)

Left ice radical (Kangxi #15) — two strokes, the compressed two-dot form of 冰. Carries the meaning: anything cold, frozen, or chilly. Anchors 凉 with 冰 (ice), 冷 (cold), 冻 (freeze), 凝 (congeal) — the cold-element family. Two dots is the dryness-cold (frost), three dots (氵) is liquid-cold (water).

phonetic

京 jīng

capital; tall building (phonetic)

Right phonetic 京 — supplies the sound (jīng drifted to liáng, a regular nasal-onset shift in this group; cf. 谅, 晾, 掠). Originally a tall watchtower or palace pictograph, hence 'capital city.' Pure sound-borrow in 凉. Same phonetic in 谅 (forgive), 晾 (air-dry — note semantic link to coolness).