冰 (bīng): ice, CL:塊|块, to chill sth

冰 (bīng) is a Chinese character meaning “ice.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 冫 (structural) and 水 (structural). It ranks #1069 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 冰 ice-cold冫 water 水. Its radical form 冫 (ice) appears in many related characters such as 冷 (lěng, cold), 净 (jìng, clean), 准 (zhǔn, to allow).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. ice
  2. CL:塊|块
  3. to chill sth

Etymology & Origin

冰

ideographicIce-cold冫 water 水

Decomposition: ⿰冫水 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

Practice writing 冰 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 冰

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
冰箱nounbīng xiāngrefrigerator3
冰激凌nounbīng jī língice cream3
滑冰verbhuá bīngto skate6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
冰淇淋nounbīng qí línice cream
冰块nounbīng kuàiice cube
冰球nounbīng qiúice hockey
冰冷adjectivebīng lěngice-cold
冰冻verbbīng dòngto freeze
溜冰verbliū bīngice skating
冰山nounbīng shāniceberg
冰川nounbīng chuānglacier
冰棍nounbīng gùnpopsicle
冰雪nounbīng xuěice and snow
冰棒nounbīng bàngpopsicle
结冰verbjié bīngto freeze
溜冰场nounliū bīng chǎngice rink
冰岛proper-nounbīng dǎoIceland
冰镇verbbīng zhèniced
102
Total compounds
79
As first character
20
As last character
1
As middle character

冰 appears in 102 compound words: 79 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 1 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 冰 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

雹báo
0.6181,204 co-occurrences
淇qí
0.61722 co-occurrences
滑huá
0.60513,440 co-occurrences
壶hú
0.5711,818 co-occurrences
淋lín
0.5683,911 co-occurrences
溜liū
0.5594,403 co-occurrences
刨bào
0.512372 co-occurrences
箱xiāng
0.5043,843 co-occurrences
冻dòng
0.5031,150 co-occurrences
川chuān
0.47211,060 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

冰肌玉骨bīng jī yù gǔHSK 6+

(idiom) (of a woman) having fair, flawless skin and a graceful, refined beauty

phrase
冰清玉洁bīngqīngyùjiéHSK 6+

irreproachable; incorruptible

phrase
冰释前嫌bīngshìqiánxiánHSK 6+

to bury the hatchet; to let bygones be bygones; to become reconciled

phrase
冰糖葫芦bīngtáng húlu

candied fruits on a bamboo skewer, especially Chinese hawthorn

noun
冰消瓦解bīngxiāowǎjiěHSK 7+

to melt like ice and break like tiles; to disintegrate; to dissolve

phrase
冰雪聪明bīngxuěcōngmíngHSK 3+

extremely intelligent

phrase
花式滑冰huā shì huá bīngHSK 5+

(Tw) figure skating

phrase
花式溜冰huāshì liūbīngHSK 7+

figure skating

noun
冷若冰霜lěng ruò bīng shuāngHSK 7+

as cold as ice and frost (idiom, usually of woman); icy manner; frigid

phrase
如履薄冰rúlǚbóbīngHSK 6+

in a careful manner; acting with extreme caution; like skating on thin ice

phrase
玉洁冰清yù jié bīng qīngHSK 6+

clear as ice and clean as jade (idiom); spotless; irreproachable; incorruptible

phrase

Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing 冰.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习冰字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí bīng zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "冰" requires repeated practice to write it neatly.

東方日報Feb 2026

冰鉴春秋:还有人看不到台湾吗

bīng jiàn chūn qiū : hái yǒu rén kàn bù dào tái wān ma

Bing Jian Chunqiu: Is there anyone who can't see Taiwan?

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(米兰冬奥会)惊喜与突破交织 中国冰雪向新而行

( mǐ lán dōng ào huì ) jīng xǐ yǔ tū pò jiāo zhī zhōng guó bīng xuě xiàng xīn ér háng

(Milan Winter Olympics) Surprises and breakthroughs are intertwined, and China's ice and snow are moving towards the new

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(米兰冬奥会)冰雪“意”犹未尽:米兰冬奥会上中国军团的“...

( mǐ lán dōng ào huì ) bīng xuě yì yóu wèi jǐn : mǐ lán dōng ào huì shàng zhōng guó jūn tuán de . . .

(Milan Winter Olympics) The "meaning" of ice and snow is not over: the Chinese legion's "...

百度新闻Feb 2026

在米兰,冰雪赛场藏着中国式浪漫

zài mǐ lán , bīng xuě sài chǎng zàng zhe zhōng guó shì làng màn

In Milan, the ice and snow arena hides Chinese romance

百度新闻Feb 2026

跨区出行需求活跃,冬奥会带火冰雪旅游热

kuà qū chū háng xū qiú huó yuè , dōng ào huì dài huǒ bīng xuě lǚ yóu rè

The demand for cross-regional travel is active, and the Winter Olympics will bring fire to ice and snow tourism

Tatoeba

溜冰是我的嗜好之一。

Liūbīng shì wǒ de shìhào zhīyī.

Skating is one of my hobbies.

Tatoeba

冰岛没有加入欧盟。

Bīngdǎo méiyǒu jiārù ōuméng.

Iceland has not joined the European Union.

Tatoeba

我吃了黑芝麻冰淇淋。

Wǒ chī le hēi zhīma bīngqílín.

I ate black sesame ice cream.

Tatoeba

你比较喜欢溜冰还是滑雪?

Nǐ bǐjiào xǐhuan liūbīng háishi huáxuě?

Which do you like better, skating or skiing?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced bīng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 冰 (bīng) mean in Chinese?
冰 (bīng) primarily means "ice." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1069 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 冰 have?
冰 is written with 6 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 冰?
The radical associated with 冰 is 冫 (ice). In fact, 冰 is itself the full form of this radical — the simplified radical form 冫 appears as a component in many related characters.
What are the components of 冰?
冰 is composed of: 冫 (structural), 水 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰冫水 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 冰?
Common words with 冰 include: 冰箱 (bīng xiāng, "refrigerator"); 冰淇淋 (bīng qí lín, "ice cream"); 冰激凌 (bīng jī líng, "ice cream"); 冰块 (bīng kuài, "ice cube"); 滑冰 (huá bīng, "to skate"). There are over 102 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 冰 (bīng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bīng: 并 (and), 病 (illness), 兵 (soldiers), 饼 (cake, pancake), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 冰 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 冰 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 冰 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.