烧

燒

shāo

尧 + 火

HSK 3.0Level 5

Definitions

shāo (verb) to burn; to cook; to heat

shāo (noun,verb) fever; to have a temperature

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 尧 represents the sound. Simplified form of 燒.

Semantic: 火 Phonetic: 尧

About

烧 is a phono-semantic compound, originally written as 燒. The fire radical 火 on the left indicates heat or flames, while the right side was the phonetic component 堯, now simplified to 尧. Its core meanings are to burn, ignite, cook, or heat with fire, later extending to fever, firing ceramics, and roasting food. The simplified form preserves the fire radical and swaps the phonetic for 尧, retaining all these meanings without change.

Etymology Hide

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

妈妈正在烧饭。

Māma zhèngzài shāo fàn.

Mom is cooking.

他有点发烧。

Tā yǒudiǎn fāshāo.

He has a slight fever.

我们烧了树叶。

Wǒmen shāo le shùyè.

We burned leaves.

烧菜要小心。

Shāo cài yào xiǎoxīn.

Cooking requires caution.

大火烧毁了房屋。

Dàhuǒ shāo huǐ le fángwū.

The fire burned down the house.

发烧时不要吃辣。

Fāshāo shí bùyào chī là.

When you have a fever, don't eat spicy food.

这种陶瓷烧制温度很高。

Zhè zhǒng táocí shāozhì wēndù hěn gāo.

This ceramic is fired at a high temperature.

烧煤会产生大量污染。

Shāo méi huì chǎnshēng dàliàng wūrǎn.

Burning coal produces a lot of pollution.

Related Characters

Component: 尧

Component: 火

烧