How to say “cold” in Chinese
3 phrases · Tourist, Learner, and Local levels · with pronunciation
很冷。
🔊 Hěn lěng
Literally: “Very cold.”
💡 Simple
今天很冷，多穿点衣服。
🔊 Jīn tiān hěn lěng, duō chuān diǎn yī fú
Literally: “Today very cold, wear more clothes.”
💡 多穿点 = wear a bit more, common advice
冻死了，寒风刺骨，出门简直是受罪！
🔊 Dòng sǐ le, hán fēng cì gǔ, chū mén jiǎn zhí shì shòu zuì!
Literally: “Frozen to death, cold wind pierces bones, going out is simply suffering!”
💡 寒风刺骨 = bone-piercing cold wind, classic idiom; 受罪 = to suffer/endure punishment
About these Chinese phrases
These Chinese weather phrases cover three levels of fluency for expressing cold conditions. The Tourist phrase is what any beginner can use immediately. The Learner phrase sounds natural in everyday conversation. The Local phrase uses authentic idioms and expressions that native speakers actually use — the kind of phrase that makes locals smile when they hear a foreigner use it.
Practice with audio pronunciation
Weather Lingo connects these phrases to your real current weather — so you learn in context, every single day.
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