冬天(dōng tiān) - winter in Mandarin

冬天 (dōng tiān) means winter, the last of the four seasons, again built on the "season plus 天" pattern shared with 春天 (chūn tiān, "spring"), 夏天 (xià tiān, "summer") and 秋天 (qiū tiān, "autumn"). 冬 (dōng) alone means "winter", and its two dots at the bottom of the character are traditionally read as a stylised depiction of ice.

冬天 (dōng tiān) covers the coldest months, and how it is talked about varies a great deal by region: in China's north it means heavy snow and indoor heating, while in the south it can mean little more than a damp chill. Either way, cold weather vocabulary clusters around it: 冷 (lěng, "cold"), 下雪 (xià xuě, "to snow"), 围巾 (wéi jīn, "scarf").

冬 (dōng) turns up alone in 冬瓜 (dōng guā, "winter melon") and 立冬 (lì dōng, "the start of winter", one of the traditional solar terms), both handy once 冬天 (dōng tiān) itself is solid.