Early forms used 仌: two angular marks that scholars interpret as pieces or patterns of ice. Later writers added 水, “water,” to make the connection with frozen water explicit. The exact shapes vary across ancient inscriptions, so this sketch keeps only the old paired ice marks rather than claiming to reproduce one exact graph.
A piece of culture
Winter ice for summer days Long before electric refrigerators, people in China harvested natural ice in winter and stored it in ice cellars for summer. Historical records describe ice storage as early as the Zhou period. It could preserve food and make cooling treats possible when the weather turned hot.