About
The character 燃, denoting the action of burning or ignition, originated from the earlier character 然 which initially carried the same fiery meaning. As the semantic range of 然 broadened over centuries to encompass adverbial and grammatical functions such as expressing assent or meaning "thus", its direct link to combustion weakened, prompting the formation of a more precise character. This was achieved by augmenting 然 with the fire radical 火, resulting in the compound 燃 where the left component clearly signifies the domain of fire while the right component provides phonetic correspondence. Consequently, 燃 has preserved a specific and stable meaning related to burning, while 然 continued to evolve independently in its linguistic roles, exemplifying a morphological shift where a derivative character emerges to maintain semantic clarity.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
森林燃烧了很久。
汽车需要燃料。
我们燃放了烟花。
燃气灶很方便。
发动机燃烧燃油。
他的热情被点燃了。
这种材料不易燃烧。
内燃机是现代工业的基础。