Hot and Cold in Japanese: Air Words and Touch Words

Hot and cold are hard for many learners in Japanese, since each one splits into two separate words. One question settles most cases: whether the heat or cold is in the air around you, or in something you touch or drink.

On a hot day, someone offering you a drink might say:

暑いですね。冷たいお茶を飲みませんか。あついですね。つめたいおちゃをのみませんか。 (atsuidesune.tsumetaiochawonomimasenka.)

Hot, isn't it? Would you like some cold tea?

These words come up in small talk about the weather and whenever you offer or accept a drink. 寒いさむい (samui) is not a word for tea, water, or anything else you touch or drink.

暑いあつい (atsui) and 熱いあつい (atsui) have the same reading, so in speech they sound alike. They are still two words, and each one has its own kanji.

暑いあつい (atsui) is heat in the air, the kind you feel all over on a summer day. 熱いあつい (atsui) is the heat of a thing, and you feel it when you touch it or drink it.

When you hear あつい (atsui) in conversation, the rest of the sentence tells you which word it is. A remark about the day means the air, and a remark about tea or soup means the thing.

Picking up a cup of tea that was poured a moment ago, you would say:

このお茶は熱いです。このおちゃはあついです。 (konoochahaatsuidesu.)

This tea is hot.

The Japanese language subdivision of Japan's Council for Cultural Affairs covered this pair in a 2014 report on kanji that share a reading. It describes 暑いあつい (atsui) as air hot enough to be unpleasant, and 熱いあつい (atsui) as heat that feels very high.

The report presents its examples as one reference for writing, not as a rule that rejects other choices. It also allows the word to be written in kana instead.

The common mistake is 熱いあつい (atsui) on a hot day:

❌ 今日は熱いですね。きょうはあついですね。 (kyouhaatsuidesune.)

⭕ 今日は暑いですね。きょうはあついですね。 (kyouhaatsuidesune.)

It's hot today, isn't it?

The weather is the air around you, so it takes 暑いあつい (atsui). 熱いあつい (atsui) is for the tea in your cup, not for the day.

Because both words are read あつい (atsui), this mistake does not show when you speak. It appears when you type or write the sentence, because that is where you choose the kanji.

The cold side splits the same way as the hot side. 寒いさむい (samui) is cold air and cold weather, and 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai) is a cold thing, such as water or a drink.

Warm has two words as well, and both are read あたたかい (atatakai). Here are all six words, each with its opposite:

In the Opposite column, air words are paired with air words. Touch words, for things you touch or drink, are paired with each other.

The opposites show how the warm pair divides. 暖かいあたたかい (atatakai) means not 寒いさむい (samui), and it is used mostly for weather and air. 温かいあたたかい (atatakai) means not 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai), as with warm soup or a warm dish.

The two warm words are not always kept apart. The same 2014 report lists a warm blanket under 暖かいあたたかい (atatakai), so a warm thing you touch does not always take 温かいあたたかい (atatakai).

The warm pair also sounds the same in speech. As with 暑いあつい (atsui) and 熱いあつい (atsui), the difference shows when you write the kanji.

The cold pair has a limit in one direction only. 寒いさむい (samui) is not used for a drink, but 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai) can describe air or wind that feels cold on your skin.

Describing a glass of iced tea, you would say:

❌ このお茶は寒いです。このおちゃはさむいです。 (konoochahasamuidesu.)

⭕ このお茶は冷たいです。このおちゃはつめたいです。 (konoochahatsumetaidesu.)

This tea is cold.

Tea is a thing you drink, so it takes 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai). 寒いさむい (samui) is about the air around your whole body.

Weather words come with set verbs too. Rain and snow share one verb, 降るふる (furu), which is used for most things that fall from the sky.

Before leaving the house on a gray morning, you might say:

今日は雨が降ります。きょうはあめがふります。 (kyouhaamegafurimasu.)

It's going to rain today.

Snow takes the same verb:

山に雪が降りました。やまにゆきがふりました。 (yamaniyukigafurimashita.)

Snow fell on the mountain.

落ちるおちる (ochiru) also means to fall, and it is the usual verb for a cup that falls from a table. To say that it is raining or snowing, use 降るふる (furu) instead:

❌ 外は雨が落ちています。そとはあめがおちています。 (sotohaamegaochiteimasu.)

⭕ 外は雨が降っています。そとはあめがふっています。 (sotohaamegafutteimasu.)

It's raining outside.

Wind takes a different verb, 吹くふく (fuku). When rain stops, the usual verb is やむ (yamu), and a clear or cloudy sky takes 晴れるはれる (hareru) or 曇るくもる (kumoru).

On a day with strong wind:

今日は風が強く吹いています。きょうはかぜがつよくふいています。 (kyouhakazegatsuyokufuiteimasu.)

The wind is blowing hard today.

The Japan Meteorological Agency's guide to forecast terms uses these same verbs. Rain and snow fall with 降るふる (furu), rain stops with やむ (yamu), and wind takes 吹くふく (fuku).

The same guide lists 晴れはれ (hare) and 曇りくもり (kumori) among its names for kinds of weather. Forecasts often use these nouns in place of full sentences, and a full sentence uses the verb form:

明日は晴れて、暖かくなります。あしたははれて、あたたかくなります。 (ashitahaharete,atatakakunarimasu.)

Tomorrow it will clear up and turn warm.

涼しいすずしい (suzushii) is the cool you are glad to feel, such as the air on an autumn morning. It is a word for air, so a cold drink takes 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai) instead. Like 暑いあつい (atsui) and 寒いさむい (samui), it describes the air around you rather than a thing you touch.

On a fresh autumn morning:

秋の朝は涼しくて、気持ちがいいです。あきのあさはすずしくて、きもちがいいです。 (akinoasahasuzushikute,kimochigaiidesu.)

Autumn mornings are cool and pleasant.

Between 暑いあつい (atsui) and 寒いさむい (samui), the mild air words are 暖かいあたたかい (atatakai) and 涼しいすずしい (suzushii). Warm spring air takes the first, and cool autumn air takes the second.

暑いですねあついですね (atsuidesune) said to a neighbor is a greeting, not a question about how hot it is. The field note on ね (ne) and よ (yo) explains how people answer it and what the ending ね (ne) adds.

In winter, the same greeting uses the air word for cold:

今日はずいぶん寒いですね。きょうはずいぶんさむいですね。 (kyouhazuibunsamuidesune.)

It's quite cold today, isn't it?

The sentence at the start of this note uses both kinds of word. The day is 暑いあつい (atsui) because the heat is in the air, and the tea is 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai) because it is something you drink.

For the air around you, say 暑いあつい (atsui) or 寒いさむい (samui); for a thing you touch or drink, say 熱いあつい (atsui) or 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai).

Rain and snow take 降るふる (furu), and wind takes 吹くふく (fuku).

寒いさむい (samui) is cold air and cold weather, felt all over your body. 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai) is a cold thing you touch or drink, and it can also describe a cold wind on your skin.

So 寒いさむい (samui) is for the air, and 冷たいつめたい (tsumetai) is usually for a thing.

It is for both, written with two different kanji. Hot weather and hot air take 暑いあつい (atsui), and a hot drink or anything hot to the touch takes 熱いあつい (atsui).

In speech the two sound the same, so the listener knows which one you mean from what you are talking about.

“Same sound, different kanji” is one of the Skill Drills in Ukiyoe Japanese. Its questions give you a sentence with a blank and three kanji that share a reading, such as 暑いあつい (atsui), 熱いあつい (atsui), and 厚いあつい (atsui). That practice is aimed at the mistake that appears only in writing.