Meaning
The kanji 寒 means cold or chilly. It covers the kind of cold you feel stepping outside on a January morning in Tokyo — not just a chill, but the weight of winter in the air. Japanese winters are genuinely cold, and this character follows you from November through March.
The structure tells its own story. The top component 宀 is a roof — shelter. The broad horizontal strokes below suggest bundles of straw stuffed inside for insulation. At the very bottom, two small 冫 (ice) components sit on the floor, cancelling out all that straw. The image is of someone huddled under a roof with ice at their feet, warmth attempted but cold winning. Once you see it, the meaning is hard to forget.
寒 is written with 12 strokes and taught in Grade 3 of Japanese elementary school. Its primary radical is 宀. Outside of weather, the character turns up in seasonal traditions, health contexts, and classical literature — anywhere that cold is more than just a temperature.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
The on'yomi reading is カン (kan). It appears mainly in compound words (熟語, jukugo) — weather forecasts, geography, and formal writing. The reading goes back to Old Chinese, which is why it lines up with the Sino-Vietnamese HÀN, the same syllable in hàn thử biểu (thermometer).
- 寒波 (kanpa) — cold wave; a sudden, intense cold front sweeping a region
- 寒冷 (kanrei) — cold, frigid; standard in weather reports and climate descriptions
- 寒天 (kanten) — cold sky; also the word for agar-agar, traditionally processed in winter cold
- 防寒 (bōkan) — cold protection; measures or clothing against the cold
- 極寒 (gokkan) — extreme cold; arctic-level temperatures
- 厳寒 (genkan) — bitter, severe cold
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
The kun'yomi is さむ(い) — samu(i). This is what you use in conversation. 寒い (samui) is a standard i-adjective — attach it directly to です or use it before a noun. Most learners pick it up early, and rightly so. The stem さむ also takes noun-forming suffixes:
- 寒い (samui) — cold (i-adjective for weather or ambient temperature)
- 寒さ (samusa) — coldness; the noun form expressing cold as a felt quality
- 寒気 (samuke) — chills, shivering; often a symptom of illness
Common Words & Compounds
寒 shows up across weather, health, and seasonal vocabulary. The most common ones, grouped by theme:
Weather & Climate
- 寒い (samui) — cold (everyday adjective)
- 寒波 (kanpa) — cold wave, cold snap
- 寒冷 (kanrei) — frigid temperature or climate
- 寒風 (kanpū) — cold wind, wintry wind
- 寒流 (kanryū) — cold ocean current
Seasons & Time
- 寒中 (kanchū) — midwinter; the coldest stretch of the year in Japan
- 寒冬 (kantō) — cold winter
- 寒暖 (kandan) — temperature variation; the swing between cold and warm
- 寒暖差 (kandansa) — temperature difference; used when warning about sharp daily swings
Body Sensations & Health
- 寒気 (samuke) — chills, shivering (a symptom of illness)
- 寒さ (samusa) — coldness as a physically felt experience
- 防寒着 (bōkangi) — cold-weather clothing, winter garments
Special & Literary Uses
- 極寒 (gokkan) — extreme cold, polar-level cold
- 厳寒 (genkan) — bitter cold, severe cold
- 寒天 (kanten) — agar-agar; the ingredient is freeze-dried in winter cold, hence the name
Example Sentences
今日は寒いですね。
Kyō wa samui desu ne.
It's cold today, isn't it?
外はとても寒いから、コートを着てください。
Soto wa totemo samui kara, kōto wo kite kudasai.
It's very cold outside, so please put on a coat.
冬の朝は寒さがきびしいです。
Fuyu no asa wa samusa ga kibishii desu.
Winter mornings here are brutal.
昨日から寒気がして、風邪をひいたようです。
Kinō kara samuke ga shite, kaze wo hiita yō desu.
I've had chills since yesterday — seems I've caught a cold.
寒波が来て、気温が急に下がりました。
Kanpa ga kite, kion ga kyū ni sagarimashita.
A cold wave moved in and the temperature dropped fast.
この地域は寒冷な気候です。
Kono chiiki wa kanrei na kikō desu.
This region has a frigid climate.
防寒のために、マフラーと手袋を持っていきましょう。
Bōkan no tame ni, mafurā to tebukuro wo motte ikimashō.
Let's bring a scarf and gloves — it'll be cold out there.
もう春なのに、まだ少し寒いですね。
Mō haru na noni, mada sukoshi samui desu ne.
It's technically spring already, but still a bit cold, isn't it?
北海道の冬は極寒で、マイナス二十度になることもあります。
Hokkaidō no fuyu wa gokkan de, mainasu nijū-do ni naru koto mo arimasu.
Hokkaido winters are extreme — temperatures can hit minus 20 degrees.
Related Kanji
- 暑 — Hot (Weather), Heat (Kanji N4)
- 短 — Short, brief, defect (Kanji N4)
- 病 — Sickness, Illness, Disease (Kanji N4)
- 便 — Convenience, Facility, Communication (Kanji N4)
- 悪 — Bad, Evil, Wrong (Kanji N4)
- 飯 — Meal, Cooked Rice, Food (Kanji N4)
Memory Tip
Picture a person inside a house on the coldest night of the year. The 宀 at the top is the roof over their head. The broad horizontal strokes in the middle are bundles of straw packed around them for warmth — an ancient insulation trick. At the bottom, two 冫 shapes are blocks of ice on the floor. No amount of straw fixes that. Roof + straw + ice = cold.
That image tends to stick. For Vietnamese learners, there's a second hook: 寒 reads as HÀN in Sino-Vietnamese. You already know it from hàn thử biểu (thermometer) and băng hàn (icy cold). The kanji just puts a face to a word you've already had for years.