晾 (liàng) · to dry in the air, to air-dry, to cold-shoulder

Meanings

1 to dry in the air
2 to air-dry
3 to cold-shoulder

Characters

晾

liàng

to air-dry; to cold-shoulder

Examples

HSK 5

她把洗好的衣服晾在阳台上。

Tā bǎ xǐ hǎo de yīfu liàng zài yángtái shàng.

She hung the washed clothes to dry on the balcony.

Tips

usage

晾 means to dry in the shade/air (not in direct sunlight). Compare with 晒, which means to dry in the sun.

Components

radical

日 rì

sun (radical)

Left sun radical - the indexing radical, an oblong with a dot marking the solar disc. Anchors 晾 firmly in the sun/light family with 暖 warm, 晒 to sun-dry, 晴 clear, 暴 to expose. Here it supplies the drying agent: laundry, herbs, and grain are hung out in the sun to dry, the action 晾 names.

phonetic

京 jīng

capital (phonetic)

Right 京 supplies the sound, drifting from jīng to liàng along an older phonetic series. The 'capital' sense plays no part in the meaning; pure sound peg here. Same phonetic powers 凉 cool, 谅 to forgive, 掠 to plunder, 椋 a tree. The cooling/airing sense of 凉 is the closest semantic cousin to 晾.