How to Write 烬 (jìn) — Meaning “Ashes or cinders”

Imagine a campfire that has burned out completely: the 火 (fire) on the left is now just leftover 灰 (ashes). To remember the right side, think of 尽 meaning 'exhausted' — so the fire is exhausted into ashes.

Pay attention to the left radical 火: when written as a radical, its last stroke changes from a right-falling stroke to a dot. On the right side, 尽 has seven strokes — make sure the bottom part is written as two vertical dots, not as a horizontal line.

烬 (jìn) means 'ashes' and always involves fire that has burned out. 炅 (jiǒng) means 'brilliant light' or 'blazing,' and 炆 (wén) is an uncommon character meaning 'warm fire' or is used in names. Visually, 烬 has 尽 on the right, while 炅 has 日 (sun) and 炆 has 文 (text).

烬 commonly appears in words like 灰烬 (ashes) and 余烬 (ember) to describe what remains after burning. It often carries a poetic or literary tone, for example in the phrase 化为灰烬 (to turn to ashes), which is used to describe total destruction.

Common words containing 烬 include: 灰烬 (huī jìn) — ashes; cinders; 余烬 (yú jìn) — embers; 化为灰烬 (huà wéi huī jìn) — to turn to ashes.