Meaning
冷血 literally means 'cold blood' and describes someone who lacks empathy, compassion, or emotional warmth. It can refer to people who act cruelly or ruthlessly without remorse, or biologically to cold-blooded animals like reptiles.
Usage
Most commonly used to criticize someone's cruel or heartless behavior. It has a strongly negative connotation when describing people. Can also be used in biology to describe cold-blooded animals (冷血动物). Often appears in phrases like 冷血杀手 (cold-blooded killer) or 冷血的人 (heartless person).
Examples
- 01他是个冷血的人，从来不关心别人的感受。, .He is a cold-blooded person who never cares about other people's feelings.
- 02蛇和青蛙都是冷血动物。.Snakes and frogs are both cold-blooded animals.
Characters
Common collocations
- 冷血动物cold-blooded animal
- 冷血杀手cold-blooded killer
- 冷血的人heartless person
- 冷血无情cold-blooded and merciless
Antonyms
Origin
Formed from the combination of 冷 (cold) and 血 (blood), creating a metaphor that equates emotional coldness with cold blood. The term draws on the traditional association between warm blood and life/passion, suggesting someone whose blood (and thus nature) is cold lacks human warmth.