凍, does it have the water radical on the left? Why is this three strokes in
some words and two strokes in others?
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radicals
Is the water radical sometimes three strokes and sometimes two strokes?
I can give you a hint:

In 冷たい、the key on the left side in the kanji 冷 depicts : "ice with a few
cracks on it". Source: [https://www.amazon.com/Key-Kanji-History-Characters-
Japanese/dp/0887277365](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0887277365)

I cannot affirm with certitude that is the same radical as in 凍 though.
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The [radical on the left of 冷 and 凍](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_15)
is called にすい (二水) but it's not [the usual "water
radical"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_85) which is さんずい (三水). You'll
just have to count the strokes.
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While 「氵」 is indeed an abbreviation of 「水」 ( _water_ ), it is rather
unfortunate that the colloquial name of 「冫」 in both Chinese and Japanese
implies that 「冫」 has something to do with _water_. To emphasise, **「冫」 does
not have anything to do with _water_** , unless the appearance of 「冫」 is due
to graphical corruption from 「氵」.

* * *

`[西周](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou)  
[金](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TufWF.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TufWF.png)  
⿱一丞卣  
[集成5318](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=5318&jgwfl=)``[秦](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty)  
[簡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_and_wooden_slips)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DcdHO.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DcdHO.png)  
日乙227 冬  
[睡虎地秦簡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuihudi_Qin_bamboo_texts)``今  
[楷](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tByCw.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tByCw.png)  
  
`

「冫」 was originally a picture of _forged metal plates_ , now written as 「鉼」
([Zhengzhang
OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang_\(1981%E2%80%931995\)):
**/*peŋʔ/** ). It was later borrowed to represent the
[morpheme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheme) now written as 「冰」 (
**/*pŋrɯŋ/** , _ice_ ) via the [rebus
principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebus#Rebus_principle).

As a stand-alone character, 「冫」 thus represents the two morphemes

  * [鉼]{へい}, _metal (plates)_

  * [冰]{ひょう} ( _Shinjitai_ : 氷), _ice_

* * *

In accordance with how Chinese characters work, as a character component, 「冫」
may impart either a meaning hint, a sound hint, or both a meaning and sound
hint to the character it is part of. These meaning and sound hints are taken
from the morphemes that it represents; that is, if you see 「冫」 as part of a
character 「Ｘ」, you should be thinking to yourself about one of the following:

  * Ｘ sounds like **へい**
  * Ｘ sounds like **ひょう**
  * Ｘ has something to do with _metal (plates)_
  * Ｘ has something to do with _ice_
  * Ｘ both sounds like **へい** and has something to do with _metal (plates)_
  * Ｘ both sounds like **ひょう** and has something to do with _ice_

**Examples:**

  * 冶 - _to smelt metal_
  * 匀 - _ancient weight measurement_ , now written as 「鈞」
  * 金 - **きん** , _metal_ , compound of 「冫」 ( _metal plates_ ), semantic 「王」 ( _metal battle weapon_ > _power/authority_ > _king_ ) and phonetic [「今」](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=84) (also **きん** ). See [What is the etymology of the kanji 金?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/65883/what-is-the-etymology-of-the-kanji-%e9%87%91/65886#65886)
  * 冷 - _cold_
  * 冬 - _winter_
  * 凍 - _freeze_
  * 馮 - **びょう** , **ひょう**

* * *
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