endure, keep (rain)out, stave off, tide over, defy, slight, surpass
凌 centers on pushing through or rising above difficulty: enduring hardship, keeping something out, staving off a threat, or defying limits. The sense of surpassing or slighting extends naturally from overcoming what stands in the way.
凌 combines 冫 (ice) with 夌, which likely contributes the sound and suggests rising above or surpassing. The idea of enduring or defying may come from the image of ice forming over and overcoming obstacles.
The ice radical 冫 on the left and 夌 (which looks like a person striding over something) on the right suggest ice that rises above and covers everything. Picture a frozen landscape where ice endures and defies the warmth, keeping the cold in and staving off the thaw.
For リョウ, imagine a lone warrior named Ryo enduring a harsh winter, defying the cold: Ryo -> リョウ, and his strength lets him surpass all challenges.
excelling; surpassing; outdoing
to endure; to keep out (e.g. rain); to stave off (e.g. starvation)
(means of) enduring; tiding over; pulling through
skyscraping; very high; above the clouds; above this mortal world
shelter
seaworthiness
lingchi; death by a thousand cuts; slow torture by slicing off parts of the body
lingchi (form of torture and execution used in China); slow slicing; death by a thousand cuts
Chinese trumpet creeper (Campsis grandiflora)
Chinese trumpet creeper (Campsis grandiflora)
nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
living from hand to mouth
to put young men to shame
makeshift; for the time being
to eke out a living; to get a bare livelihood; to live from hand to mouth