Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/火-huŏ-fire

火 huŏ fire - Mandarin Chinese

Definition

This character, which is a pictograph representing fire, is itself a radical. As a radical at the left-hand side of a character, as in 炒 chăo “stir-fry,” it is referred to colloquially as 火字旁 huŏzìpáng “side made up of the character 火,” and its last stroke is shortened so that it doesn’t collide with the component to its right. When 火 occurs as a radical at the bottom of a character, it is written 灬 and is referred to colloquially as 四点火 (四點火) sìdiăn huŏ “four dots of fire,” e.g., 煮 zhŭ “boil.” The character 火 can also serve as a phonetic in some characters, e.g., in the simplified character 伙, which is used in the word 伙伴 huŏbàn “companion.” Distinguish 火 from 人 rén, 大 dà, and 太 tài.

Examples

• 火 huŏ fire [N]
• 火车 (火車) huŏchē train [N]
• 火山 huŏshān volcano [N]
• 火山口 huŏshānkŏu crater of a volcano [N]

Sources

Book: Intermediate Written Chinese by Cornelius C. Kubler

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