Chinese character · HSK 6
炒 (chǎo) — “stir-fry / sauté”
The character combines 'fire' (火) indicating the cooking method, and 'few/little' (少) which provides the pronunciation and visually represents tossing small pieces of food.
How to remember 炒
To stir-fry, you need a hot FIRE (火) to quickly toss a FEW (少) small pieces of food in a wok.
Inside the character
- 火 (fire) — meaning component. Often marks burning, heat, light, or anything cooked over flame.
- 少 (few) — sound component. Often a sound-bearing piece in 沙 / 砂 / 抄 / 钞 / 妙 / 秒 — and carries the sense of few or little.
Where 炒 comes from
A phono-semantic compound where 火 (fire) provides the semantic context of cooking, and 少 (shǎo) provides the phonetic sound.
Words that use 炒
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 炒作 | chǎo zuò | to hype / to promote (in the media) | HSK 6 |
| 炒菜 | chǎo cài | stir-fried dish | HSK 6 |
| 炒饭 | chǎo fàn | fried rice | HSK 6 |
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More characters: 狗 (gǒu, dog) · 画 (huà, to draw / picture) · 看 (kàn, to look / to see) — or browse the full character library.