炎 meaning and stroke order
Flame, blaze; hot
How to write 炎, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Meaning of 炎
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- flame
- inflammation
- -itis
How 炎 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Two fires 火 burning.
Radical: 火 (fire), shared by 128 characters on this site.
How to remember 炎
炎 (yán) is one fire 火 (huǒ) stacked on top of another. Two fires burning together make a blaze, so think of something extra hot.
Today 炎 is most common in medical words, where it works like the English ending -itis, as in 肺炎 (fèiyán) pneumonia and 关节炎 (guānjiéyán) arthritis. It also describes scorching weather in 炎热 (yánrè). Example: 我的伤口发炎了。(Wǒ de shāngkǒu fāyán le.) My wound has become inflamed.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes confuse 炎 with 淡 (dàn, light or bland), which adds the water radical 氵 to the left of 炎. Also remember 炎 is second tone yán, not fourth tone like 燕 (yàn).
Common words with 炎
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
炎 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 炎
Learning 炎 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 炎
How many strokes are in 炎?
炎 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 炎 mean?
炎 (yán) means flame, blaze; hot. A common word with it is 发炎 (fāyán), meaning "to become inflamed; inflammation".
How do you pronounce 炎?
炎 is pronounced yán, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 炎?
The radical of 炎 is 火, which carries the idea of "fire". Dictionaries list 炎 under this radical.
Is 炎 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 炎 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 3.
How do I say I have an inflammation or infection in Chinese?
Use 发炎 (fāyán), usually with 了: 嗓子发炎了 (sǎngzi fāyán le) means my throat is inflamed. For the medical noun, use 炎症 (yánzhèng).
Can 炎 be used alone to mean hot?
Not usually in everyday speech. It mostly appears in compounds like 炎热 (yánrè) or literary phrases like 炎夏 (yánxià, scorching summer). For simple hot, say 热 (rè).