‘解冻’ literally means ‘to untie freezing’ — combining 解 (jiě, ‘to loosen, release, undo’) and 冻 (dòng, ‘to freeze’). As a verb, it describes the physical process of returning something frozen back to its unfrozen, usable state, such as thawing meat, ice, or frozen food. It’s commonly used in cooking, food storage, medical contexts (e.g., thawing biological samples), and even metaphorically for restarting stalled processes.

While the characters suggest a reversal of freezing, ‘解冻’ is not used for natural melting (like snow under sun); instead, it implies intentional, often controlled, warming — for example, using a refrigerator’s defrost setting or running cold water over frozen fish. It carries a neutral-to-formal register and appears frequently in instructions, health guidelines, and daily household communication.