How to Write 凇 (sōng) — Meaning “rime; ice crystals”

Imagine a pine tree (松) covered in icy frost (冫) — the tree looks like it's wearing a sparkling icy coat. The sound "sōng" is the same as "松" (pine), so think of "pine ice" to recall the meaning "rime."

Write the radical 冫 first as two dots, then the right part 松: start with 木 (wood) as four strokes, then 公 as four strokes — total 10. Make sure the left dot is slightly higher than the right dot, and the right side is balanced and not too wide.

凇 has the ice radical 冫 meaning rime or ice crystals, while 冼 (xiǎn) has the water radical 氵 and means to wash or cleanse — visually, 冼 has a different right component (先). 冽 (liè) also uses 冫 but means bitterly cold, with a different right part (列), and is used in words like 凛冽 (biting cold).

凇 is used mainly in weather or nature descriptions, especially in the words 雾凇 (wùsōng, rime) and 雨凇 (yǔsōng, glaze ice). It appears in Chinese travel guides for famous rime scenes like 吉林雾凇 (Jilin rime), a beautiful winter phenomenon on trees along the Songhua River.

Common words containing 凇 include: 雾凇 (wù sōng) — Rime; 雨凇 (yǔ sōng) — glaze ice; silver thaw; 凇花 (sōng huā) — rime; ice flowers.