During the Arctic expedition, he suffered from frostbite on his fingers due to the extreme cold.

frostbite 是由 frost（霜冻）和 bite（咬）组成的复合词。frost 指"霜冻、冰冻"，bite 在这里比喻寒冷像被咬一样侵袭身体。合起来表示"冻伤"，指因极度寒冷导致身体组织受损的状况。