Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

凝: congeal, freeze

Also: stiff, be absorbed in

JLPT N116 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

冫 carries the meaning · 疑 gives the sound

16 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

ギョウgyou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 凝縮ぎょうしゅくcondensation (of ideas, emotions, etc.)
  • 凝固ぎょうこcoagulation; freezing; solidification
  • 凝視ぎょうしstare; gaze; fixation

こるkoru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 凝るこるto become stiff (of muscles)
  • 凝ったこったelaborate; exquisite; ornate

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 凝りしこりmuscle stiffness (esp. in shoulders)

Also read こらす, こごらす, こごらせる, こごる, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Brrr, it's freezing! Imagine two sharp icicles hanging from the edge of a roof.”
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
凝 congeal · 冫
vs擬 mimic · 扌
凝 has 冫 where 擬 has 扌.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · níng

Same form: 凝 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
凝 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
凝 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin níng most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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