烽

fēng

夆 + 火

Definitions

fēng beacon fire

Etymology phono-semantic

fire

Semantic: 火 Phonetic: 夆

About

烽 is a phono-semantic compound: the fire radical 火 on the left provides the semantic category, while the right component 夆 indicates the pronunciation. Its original meaning is a conical beacon or signal fire, part of an ancient military communication network that rapidly sent warnings of approaching enemies across great distances. Over time, the character's strong link to border defense and alerts extended its sense to war, military conflict, and hostilities. It commonly occurs in compound words and poetic language, conjuring images of warfare, frontier outposts, and the urgent relaying of tactical intelligence in times of crisis.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

烽火用来传递消息。

Fēng huǒ yòng lái chuán dì xiāo xī.

Beacon fires were used to transmit messages.

古代战争常点烽火。

Gǔ dài zhàn zhēng cháng diǎn fēng huǒ.

Ancient wars often lit beacon fires.

山上的烽火台很古老。

Shān shàng de fēng huǒ tái hěn gǔ lǎo.

The beacon tower on the mountain is very old.

士兵们守卫着烽火台。

Shì bīng men shǒu wèi zhe fēng huǒ tái.

Soldiers guard the beacon tower.

当烽烟升起时，人们就知道敌人来了。

Dāng fēng yān shēng qǐ shí, rén men jiù zhī dào dí rén lái le.

When beacon smoke rises, people know the enemy has arrived.

烽火照亮了黑暗的夜空。

Fēng huǒ zhào liàng le hēi àn de yè kōng.

Beacon fires illuminated the dark night sky.

如果烽火信号被误解，可能会导致严重的后果。

Rú guǒ fēng huǒ xìn hào bèi wù jiě, kě néng huì dǎo zhì yán zhòng de hòu guǒ.

If the beacon fire signal is misunderstood, it could lead to serious consequences.

烽火系统在古代通信中扮演了关键角色。

Fēng huǒ xì tǒng zài gǔ dài tōng xìn zhōng bàn yǎn le guān jiàn jué sè.

The beacon fire system played a key role in ancient communication.

Related Characters

Component: 夆

Component: 火

烽