冷える
Meaning in Englishcool down, get cold
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
What does 冷える mean? It denotes the process of temperature falling and entering a cooler state, typically describing weather, a person’s sensation of chill, or the cooling of objects or foods; it is used intransitively to signal a change toward coldness rather than an action that cools something externally.
Main meanings
- To become cold due to a drop in temperature in the environment, such as weather or a room.
- To feel cold in the body or limbs, indicating a chill sensation.
- To cool down or become cold as a result of cooling of food or drink after heating.
How to use it
Used in everyday speech to describe a drop in temperature, a person feeling chilly, or foods and drinks returning to a cooler state; casual and neutral in tone; polite forms exist for formal contexts, with ひえます and 冷えます as the polite forms; patterns include subject + が + 冷える for things that become cold, or general coldness in weather and environment.
Variants and close terms
- 寒くなる (samuku naru) — becomes cold (weather)
- 冷たく感じる (tsumetaku kanjiru) — feels cold to touch
- 涼しくなる (suzushiku naru) — becomes cool, milder
Composition
- 冷: cold, cool
- える: suffix forming a change-of-state verb
Etymology
ひえる is the native kun'yomi form; the kanji 冷 provides a semantic cue for cold and is often used in writing; over time the spelling merged kana and kanji to express the state-change verb.
Word class
verb (ichidan)