How to Write 烹 (pēng) — Meaning “to cook / to boil”

Imagine you are 'cooking' a meal and you say 'pēng' as you put the pot on fire (灬). The top part 亨 looks like a pot with a lid and steam rising. Picture the sound of food sizzling: 'peng! peng!' to help you recall it means to cook.

The top part 亨 is written first: 亠, then 口, then 子 (though 亨 is slightly different). The bottom 灬 (four dots) is written left to right as four small strokes. A common mistake is making the top part too wide or the dots too large; keep the top narrow and the dots evenly spaced under the upper component.

烹 has the top part 亨 and fire radical 灬, meaning 'to cook'. 点 (diǎn) has the top part 占 and fire radical, meaning 'dot' or 'to order', not related to cooking. 烈 (liè) has the top part 列 and fire radical, meaning 'fierce' or 'intense', as in strong heat. Only 烹 relates to the activity of cooking food.

烹 is common in formal or technical terms like 烹饪 (cooking as a skill) and 烹调 (the art of cooking). It appears in phrases like 烹茶 (to brew tea), showing its use in traditional tea culture. Though not in HSK, it is still used in culinary contexts, especially in describing the process of cooking with heat.

Common words containing 烹 include: 烹饪 (pēng rèn) — cooking / culinary arts; 烹调 (pēng tiáo) — cooking / to cook; 烹茶 (pēng chá) — to brew tea.