Meanings of 燒
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Podcast: 燒
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AI Study Notes for 燒
烤 (kǎo, to roast) — use 燒 for burning or baking with a more intense heat, while 烤 is for roasting with a gentler heat.
Be careful not to confuse 燒 with other cooking verbs such as 煮 (zhǔ, to boil) or 炒 (chǎo, to stir-fry). 燒 is also used in informal contexts, but can be formal when describing cooking techniques in recipes. A common collocation is 燒肉 (shāo ròu, roasted meat).
While 燒 is not in the official HSK levels, it relates to cooking verbs found in HSK 3 and 4, such as 煮 (boil) and 炒 (stir-fry). Focus on understanding its usage in culinary contexts and how it combines with other characters to form phrases related to cooking.
Learners often confuse 燒 with 煮, mistakenly using it to describe boiling food. For example, saying '我在燒水' (wǒ zài shāo shuǐ, 'I am burning water') is incorrect; it should be '我在煮水' (wǒ zài zhǔ shuǐ, 'I am boiling water').
Pronunciation of 燒
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Etymology of 燒
Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 尧 represents the sound. Simplified form of 燒.
fire
Origin
燒 = 火 + 堯. What kind of character does that make it?
Decomposition of 燒
Parts
Which of these is part of 燒?
How to say to burn, to bake; to heat, to roast in Chinese
“to burn, to bake; to heat, to roast” in Chinese is燒
The character 燒 (shāo) means 'to burn' or 'to bake,' typically referring to the process of applying heat to food items or materials. It can also imply the action of roasting or heating something until it is cooked or altered by fire. This term is commonly used in cooking contexts, indicating various methods of food preparation involving heat.
When to use 燒
Be careful not to confuse 燒 with other cooking verbs such as 煮 (zhǔ, to boil) or 炒 (chǎo, to stir-fry). 燒 is also used in informal contexts, but can be formal when describing cooking techniques in recipes. A common collocation is 燒肉 (shāo ròu, roasted meat).
燒 or something close to it
烤 (kǎo, to roast) — use 燒 for burning or baking with a more intense heat, while 烤 is for roasting with a gentler heat.
What learners get wrong
Learners often confuse 燒 with 煮, mistakenly using it to describe boiling food. For example, saying '我在燒水' (wǒ zài shāo shuǐ, 'I am burning water') is incorrect; it should be '我在煮水' (wǒ zài zhǔ shuǐ, 'I am boiling water').
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Word Family of 燒
Characters with 燒
What does 烧 mean?
Frequently Asked Questions about 燒
燒 is often used to describe methods of cooking involving heat, such as roasting or baking. For example, 燒肉 refers to roasted meat.
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