How to Write 燠 (yù) — Meaning “Warm / Hot”

Imagine a fire (火) burning inside a deep, closed oven (奥) – the heat cannot escape, making it stuffy. This picture of trapped heat matches 燠's meaning of oppressive, sweltering weather.

The left radical 火 should be written with a dot first, then three strokes: a left-falling, a short left-falling, and a right-falling. On the right, the component 奥 has a 大 on top, a 米 in the middle, and a 廾 at the bottom – do not forget the horizontal stroke under 大.

燠 means sultry or oppressive heat, while 煽 means to fan or incite flames, and 熄 means to extinguish fire. Visually, 燠 has 奥 on the right, 煽 has 扇 (a fan), and 熄 has 息 (rest). Their right sides are completely different.

燠 is a literary character used in formal or poetic descriptions of weather, like 燠热 (sultry heat) and 燠闷 (stifling). It appears in phrases such as 寒燠 (cold and heat) to contrast seasons, but it is not common in everyday conversation.

Common words containing 燠 include: 燠热 (yù rè) — Sultry / Sweltering heat; 燠闷 (yù mèn) — Oppressive heat / Stifling; 寒燠 (hán yù) — cold and heat; winter and summer.