Traditional Chinese character for burning

燒 means “to burn” and also appears in Chinese words for roasting, cooking over heat, and fever. Forms of 燒 appear in writing from Chu, one of the states during China’s Warring States era; the Han-era Chinese character dictionary Shuowen Jiezi records it too. Today, 燒 is the traditional Chinese form, 烧 is simplified Chinese, and 焼 is the modern simplified Japanese form.

Text symbol

What 燒 means

It means “to burn,” with related uses for heat and cooking.

The graph combines 火, the fire element, with 堯 as a sound element. In Chinese compounds, 燒 can mean roasting or cooking with heat, and it appears in words for having a fever.

燒 vs 烧: what changes?

The meaning stays; the writing standard changes.

燒 is the traditional Chinese form; 烧 is its simplified Chinese counterpart. 焼 is the modern simplified form used in Japanese. In a message, 燒 points to traditional-script Chinese; by itself, it does not make the word stronger or more formal.

Neutral in traditional Chinese writing; this form signals a script convention, not added emphasis.

燒 does not mean a stronger burn or a more formal version of 烧.

Part of the collection

粵

Cantonese Characters

Who writes 燒

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Don't confuse it with

烧

CJK Unified Ideograph-70E7

The simplified Chinese form of 燒; both write the same core word.

焼

CJK Unified Ideograph-713C

The modern simplified Japanese form corresponding to 燒; it is not a Chinese typo.

Questions people ask

Why does 燒 show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.