霜

• Primary: Frost. Frequently paired with 露 (dew) to mark seasonal transitions into late autumn/winter or as a meditation on the passage of time.
• Metaphorical (Aging): A poetic shorthand for white or graying hair (e.g., "frost on the temples").
• Metaphorical (Affect/Quality): Emotional frigidity, severity, or crystalline purity.
• Specialized: Crystallized or candied. These are generally later developments or specialized culinary terms and are rarely applicable in early classical (Warring States/Han) contexts.

• Noun: Functions as a temporal anchor when appearing in lists of seasonal markers.
• Attributive Modifier: Modifies nouns of appearance (e.g., "frosty" hair) or atmospheric conditions (e.g., "frosty" wind).

• 霜 vs. 冰 (ice) / 雪 (snow): Frost is strictly a surface phenomenon. Descriptions of 霜 as "falling" or "descending" suggest a light dusting effect rather than the accumulation of snow or the freezing of water into ice.

• Semantic variant: U+5B40.

// Tang-period reading: //shriɑng.