寒 hán cold; poor; to tremble
Made up of [宀 mián roof radical 40]Made with 12 strokes.
Originally included 'person', 'grass', 'ice' and 'house' as a picture of a person trying to keep warm on hay within a house.
Related characters
Also uses 宀 mián component: 安 ān (peace) 宝 bǎo (jewel) ; 定 dìng (to set) ; 富 fù (rich) ; 宫 gōng (palace) ; 官 guān (official) ; 家 jiā (house) ; 客 kè (customer) ; 宁 nìng (better) ; 容 róng (to hold) ; 室 shì (room) ; 实 shí (real) ; 宋 song (Song) ; 它 tā (it) ; 穴 xué (cave) ; 宜 yí (proper) ; 院 yuàn (courtyard) ; 灾 zāi (disaster) ; 字 zì (letter)
Different tone
汉 hàn (chinese) ; 汗 hàn (perspiration)Pronunciation
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Proverbs
冰冻三尺,非一日之寒 bīng dòng sān chǐ, fēi yí rì zhī hán It takes time to achieve satisfactory results唇亡齿寒 chún wáng chǐ hán Two interdependent things or people. The story of is of an attack on two kingdoms, as they were so mutually dependent the fall of one led directly to the fall of the other.
一曝十寒 yī pù shí hán The story is that second sage of Confucianism, Mencius (Menzi) said this of the king of Qi. He considered him a person who only showed enthusiasm for Mencius' ideas for a short time while he was around to encourage him to rule well. So it has come to describe the many people who have short bursts of enthusiasm - no staying power.
不寒而栗 bù hán ér lì Shudder with fear and dread. There is a story of a sadistic official of the Han dynasty who arbitrarily sentenced people to death. When their relatives and friends came to protest he had them executed too. Everyone was quaking with fear when they saw the official.
噤若寒蝉 jìn ruò hán chán Cicadas do not 'sing' in cold weather. To keep silent for fear of attracting unwanted attention or incriminating yourself.