冴

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sharp

On-Yomi: ゴ

Koohii stories:

1) [to_nihon] 12-12-2008(50): (Note that per Heisig, this doesn't mean 'able to cut'; it means mentally sharp, adept, or 'on your toes'!) During the Ice Age, cavemen had to be especially careful around the woolly mammoth, because they were more mentally sharp than they looked. If the cavemen weren't careful, they could end up impaled on the mammoths' tusks!

2) [shirahime] 10-1-2008(18): A sharp tusk pointing out of the ice. Probably belongs to a mammoth.

3) [Pauline] 23-5-2007(12): The ice-age mammoth was very sharp and knew how to make use of its tusks.

4) [Meconium] 15-7-2009(7): "That boy's as sharp as an iced tusk," went the popular expression back in the days when kanji were being invented. Ice of course can be sharp to the touch at times, as can tusks, so naturally an iced tusk was one of the sharpest things around back then (hence the simile).

5) [mantixen] 14-2-2007(5): A tusk sharp enough to cut ice.

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