cold sweat; nervous sweat; stress sweat
Refers to sweat that comes from fear, anxiety, or mental strain, not from physical exertion or heat. Often used in expressions like 生汗が出る or 生汗をかく.
Before the important presentation, I couldn't stop sweating from nerves.
He was sweating cold sweat under interrogation.
Compound of 生 (なま, 'raw, fresh, unprocessed') and 汗 (あせ, 'sweat'). The prefix 生 here conveys the sense of 'involuntary' or 'unadulterated' sweat, as opposed to sweat from physical causes.