烁 meaning and stroke order

shuò

To sparkle, to shine, to glitter

Strokes9
Pinyinshuò
ToneTone 4
Frequency#3,491

How to write 烁, stroke by stroke

9 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. 1
  2. 2
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  9. 9

Meaning of 烁

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

shuòfourth tone (falling)
  1. bright
  2. luminous

How 烁 is built

Ideographic (compound meaning) character. The happy 乐 light of a flame 火.

Radical: 火 (fire), shared by 128 characters on this site.

How to remember 烁

On the left is fire 火 and on the right is happy 乐 (lè). Picture a happy, dancing flame that sparkles and glitters.

烁 almost never appears alone in modern Chinese. You will meet it mostly in 闪烁 (shǎnshuò), which describes lights that twinkle or flicker. It can also describe speech that is vague or evasive. Example: 天上的星星在闪烁。(Tiān shàng de xīngxing zài shǎnshuò.) The stars in the sky are twinkling.

Common mistake: Learners often read 烁 as lè or yuè because of the 乐 component, but it is pronounced shuò with a falling fourth tone. Also do not confuse it with 砾 (lì, gravel), which has the same right side but a stone 石 on the left.

Common words with 烁

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
闪烁shǎnshuòto glisten; to glitter; to twinkle; to flicker; to be evasive; to equivocateHSK 7-9

烁 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

我wǒ只zhǐ能néng看kàn到dào闪shǎn烁shuò的de灯dēng光guāng。
All I could see was the flickering lights.
她tā的de眼yǎn睛jīng闪shǎn烁shuò着zhe喜xǐ悦yuè的de光guāng芒máng。
Her eyes were shining with joy.
无wú数shù星xīng星xīng在zài天tiān上shàng闪shǎn烁shuò。
Countless stars were twinkling in the sky.
阳yáng光guāng在zài湖hú面miàn上shàng闪shǎn烁shuò。
Sunlight sparkled on the lake.
当dāng她tā看kàn到dào妈mā妈mā没méi在zài生shēng她tā的de气qì,她tā的de双shuāng眼yǎn因yīn为wèi幸xìng福fú而ér闪shǎn烁shuò了le。
Her eyes shone with joy when she saw that her mother was not mad at her.

Questions about 烁

How many strokes are in 烁?

烁 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.

What does 烁 mean?

烁 (shuò) means to sparkle, to shine, to glitter. A common word with it is 闪烁 (shǎnshuò), meaning "to glisten; to glitter; to twinkle; to flicker; to be evasive; to equivocate".

How do you pronounce 烁?

烁 is pronounced shuò, in the fourth tone (falling).

What is the radical of 烁?

The radical of 烁 is 火, which carries the idea of "fire". Dictionaries list 烁 under this radical.

What is the traditional form of 烁?

The traditional form of 烁 is 爍. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 烁 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.

Is 烁 on the HSK exam?

Yes. 烁 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.

What does 闪烁其词 mean?

闪烁其词 (shǎnshuò qí cí) is an idiom meaning to speak evasively or beat around the bush. It uses the flickering idea of 闪烁 to describe words that never stay clear.

Is there a difference between 闪烁 and 闪耀?

闪烁 suggests light that flickers on and off, like stars or a blinking signal. 闪耀 (shǎnyào) suggests steady, strong shining, like sunlight on gold. Only 闪烁 can also mean being evasive.

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