霜

shuāng

noun HSK 7-9 #8,769

Meanings

1 frost
2 cream (cosmetic or food topping)

Characters

霜

shuāng

frost; cream

The 雨 radical on top indicates weather; 相 gives the sound. Frozen dew on cold mornings.

Examples

HSK 1

今天早上地上有霜。

Jīntiān zǎoshang dìshàng yǒu shuāng.

There was frost on the ground this morning.

HSK 7-9

她每天都涂防晒霜。

Tā měitiān dōu tú fángshàishuāng.

She applies sunscreen every day.

HSK 7-9

霜降是秋天的最后一个节气。

Shuāngjiàng shì qiūtiān de zuìhòu yīgè jiéqì.

Frost Descent is the last solar term of autumn.

Tips

usage

霜 doubles as 'cream' in product names: 面霜 (face cream), 防晒霜 (sunscreen), 冰霜 (icy frost). The 'cream' sense comes from frost's white, thin-layer appearance.

culture

霜降 (Frost Descent) is the 18th of 24 solar terms in the Chinese calendar, marking when frost first appears - usually around October 23.

Components

radical

雨 yǔ

rain

Top rain radical - a cloud with four water droplets falling beneath it. It indexes 霜 in the weather family: 雪 snow, 雷 thunder, 露 dew, 雾 fog, 霾 haze. Anything precipitated from the sky lives under 雨. Frost is just rain that froze before it landed, so the placement is exact.

phonetic

相 xiāng

appearance; mutual

Bottom 相 supplies the sound xiāng → shuāng with the regular x/sh alternation. Same phonetic appears in 想 think, 箱 box, 厢 wing-room. Faint semantic flavor: 相 was originally 'looking at a tree with the eye,' and frost is what you see on the bare branches at dawn - sky-rain meeting the morning tree.

Stroke Order

霜 shuāng

霜