How to Write 煳 (hú) — Meaning “burnt; scorched”

Picture a pot of food being cooked over fire (火) until it becomes a mess or "muddled" — the right part 胡 can be remembered as "messed up." So imagine saying, "The fire messed it up, it's burnt!" This links the fire radical to the idea of scorching and the phonetic 胡 to a ruined result.

When writing 煳, pay attention to the left radical 火: it is compressed and the last stroke changes from a dot to a shorter stroke to fit with 胡. A common mistake is writing the 胡 part too wide — keep the right side balanced, especially the 月 (moon) component which should be narrow. Also, remember the total stroke count is 13.

煳 uses the fire radical 火 and the phonetic 胡, meaning "burnt" or "scorched," and is used in everyday cooking contexts. In contrast, 烯 (xī) and 烷 (wán) are chemical terms for alkene and alkane, and they have different right-side components: 希 and 完. Though all share the fire radical, 煳 is about burning food while the others are scientific.

煳 is commonly used when food is accidentally overcooked or burned, as in 烧煳 (shāo hú, to burn food) or 煳味 (hú wèi, burnt smell). It appears in everyday kitchen situations, like saying "The rice is 煳" to mean it got scorched at the bottom. Culturally, avoiding 煳 food is a sign of good cooking skill in Chinese homes.

Common words containing 煳 include: 烧煳 (shāo hú) — To burn or scorch food; 煳味 (hú wèi) — burnt smell; 弄煳 (nòng hú) — to burn (food); to scorch.