How to Write 馏 (liú) — Meaning “to reheat by steaming”

Imagine you have leftover food (饣) that you want to keep (留) warm, so you put it in a steamer to reheat it. The sound 'liú' can remind you of 'leave' — you leave the food in the steamer to get hot again.

The left radical 饣 has three strokes: a short left-falling stroke, a horizontal hook, and a vertical rising stroke. Make sure the right side 留 is balanced: the top part 卯 has a dot on the left and a short horizontal stroke, and the bottom 田 is slightly narrower than the top. A common mistake is making the 田 too wide or forgetting the dot in 卯.

馏 means 'to reheat by steaming' and is used for food like rice or buns. 飨 (xiǎng) means 'to entertain with a feast' or 'to enjoy food,' and is more formal or literary. 餍 (yàn) means 'to be full' or 'satisfied after eating,' often used in classical texts. Visually, 馏 has the food radical plus 留, while 飨 has 食 and 乡, and 餍 has 食 and 厌.

You use 馏 when reheating leftover rice (馏饭) or steamed buns (馏馒头) by steaming them. It is common in home kitchens and casual conversation about food preparation. The word 蒸馏 (distillation) is more technical, used in chemistry or making liquor.

Common words containing 馏 include: 馏饭 (liú fàn) — to reheat rice by steaming; 馏馒头 (liú mán tou) — to reheat steamed buns by steaming; 蒸馏 (zhēng liú) — To distill or distillation.