Why are there two versions of the kanji for 冷?


The screenshot below is from Kotoba for iPhone.

![tsumetai](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yuygM.png)

It shows the character for "cool", 冷 as used in the word 冷たい. However, the
character in the stroke order diagram is slightly different to the main one
displayed top-left!

Why is this? Which one is correct? Or are both correct?

I suspect the stroke order diagram actually comes from a Chinese font, rather
than a Japanese font. I'd like to confirm this.

Thanks to Lukman for the following screenshot:

![different radicals](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AZGGs.png)




It's no big deal, just that the most common standard handwritten form of the
character is different from the most common printed form of the character.
This doesn't even rise to the level of "variant character" in the strictest
sense (like 悪 vs 惡). The two are the _same character_ , just like a joined-up
printed さ is the same as a disjoint handwritten one, or a cursive [a] is the
same as a printed one in English.

The Chinese/Japanese thing is a red herring: here are
[two](http://kakijun.main.jp/page/0728200.html)
[more](http://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%B7) sources clearly aimed at
Japanese people showing this handwritten form. It _is_ true that the printed
Chinese form looks more like the diagram, but this is just because the
"official" printed Chinese form was revised to be more in line with the pre-
existing standard written form, shared by both Japanese and Chinese.

If you won't take my word for the above, check out [the jōyō kanji
guidelines](http://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/sisaku/joho/joho/kijun/naikaku/pdf/joyokanjihyo_20101130.pdf)
[PDF] from the Ministry of Education. Scroll down to the section headed
"明朝体と筆写の楷書との関係について" and you will see many similar cases of difference between
standard printed and written forms, along with the Ministry formally declaring
that these differences do _not_ result in "different characters", or that the
written form is "wrong". ("... 筆写の楷書における書き方の習慣を改めようとするものではない。 ...
印刷文字と手書き文字におけるそれぞれの習慣の相違に基づく表現の差と見るべきものである。")

Note that the character 令 is actually one of the examples in their
"筆写の楷書では，いろいろな書き方があるもの" section, and the form with a final vertical is
recognized as a possible "correct" handwritten version, so if it makes you
feel more comfortable, go for it! Just don't be ragging on people who write it
diagonally, because that's cool too.




It's no big deal, just that the most common standard handwritten form of the
character is different from the most common printed form of the character.
This doesn't even rise to the level of "variant character" in the strictest
sense (like 悪 vs 惡). The two are the _same character_ , just like a joined-up
printed さ is the same as a disjoint handwritten one, or a cursive [a] is the
same as a printed one in English.

The Chinese/Japanese thing is a red herring: here are
[two](http://kakijun.main.jp/page/0728200.html)
[more](http://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%B7) sources clearly aimed at
Japanese people showing this handwritten form. It _is_ true that the printed
Chinese form looks more like the diagram, but this is just because the
"official" printed Chinese form was revised to be more in line with the pre-
existing standard written form, shared by both Japanese and Chinese.

If you won't take my word for the above, check out [the jōyō kanji
guidelines](http://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/sisaku/joho/joho/kijun/naikaku/pdf/joyokanjihyo_20101130.pdf)
[PDF] from the Ministry of Education. Scroll down to the section headed
"明朝体と筆写の楷書との関係について" and you will see many similar cases of difference between
standard printed and written forms, along with the Ministry formally declaring
that these differences do _not_ result in "different characters", or that the
written form is "wrong". ("... 筆写の楷書における書き方の習慣を改めようとするものではない。 ...
印刷文字と手書き文字におけるそれぞれの習慣の相違に基づく表現の差と見るべきものである。")

Note that the character 令 is actually one of the examples in their
"筆写の楷書では，いろいろな書き方があるもの" section, and the form with a final vertical is
recognized as a possible "correct" handwritten version, so if it makes you
feel more comfortable, go for it! Just don't be ragging on people who write it
diagonally, because that's cool too.

